Bonds Across Time
by sakurademonalchemist
Summary: An unexpected fall into an old well leads Tsukiyo into meeting her own grandfather, much to the shock of both. However time travel can come with many benefits, including a family she never expected to learn about...even if it comes at the cost of helping them fit in with Feudal Era Japan. The present and the past will collide in unexpected ways as Tsukiyo learns how to cope.
1. Chapter 1

**Has minor Inuyasha elements to this, but is primarily a KHR fic. Also, "Tsukiyo" means "Moonlit Night".**

* * *

Tsukiyo Sawada absolutely horrible day was about to turn into something amazing. She just didn't know it yet.

She spotted several of her usual tormentors, all of whom were waiting to ambush her. Not that they really knew Tsukiyo was a girl...she had taken great pains to hide her gender for good reason.

Tsukiyo ducked past some brambles, not really caring about the fact it caught on her clothes. She was used to worse and her mother wouldn't ask. She never did, even when she came home with obvious bruises.

She cared more about her brother Tatsuya than she ever had her eldest.

Hearing voices behind her, she moved faster, until she suddenly tripped on a root she didn't see...and crashed right into an old forgotten well that was hidden. She braced herself for the inevitable crash...only to blink after several seconds passed and she didn't feel anything. Not even a thin layer of water or debris, which she had been expecting.

She dared to look up, and was very surprised to see a clear blue sky above her. Listening carefully for voices, it took her a moment to realize something was very wrong.

The constant background noise of cars, electricity and other signs of modern life were _missing_. All she could hear was bird song and the wind, and in the well she should have been able to hear _something_ at least.

Seeing a nearby vine, and hoping that the bullies weren't waiting outside the dry well for her to come out, she slowly began to climb up. It took her several tries, since she kept slipping, but eventually she managed it.

Only to stare in shock when she realized the brambles were completely missing and she couldn't see a single house in the area.

Further inspection via taking out her phone revealed that she had absolutely no cell signal, not even a blip on the WiFi.

Which was impossible because she had full bars when she found the well and there were at least three protected WiFi signals in the area.

What was going on?

Carefully getting out of the well, she put away her phone in the secure pocket she had sewn inside her pants. She slid it back into the protective casing that looked quite battered and had more than a few dents on it.

The foam inside the metal box was snug against the cell phone which insured that no matter how bad a fall it's owner took, the device wouldn't break. Her mother had bought it the first chance she could, since her daughter was so 'clumsy'. Between that and the hidden pocket, she had actually managed to keep a cell phone for a little over a year. It was a record, considering her bullies thought it great fun to damage her things simply because they could.

She had no idea where she was... this wasn't the Namimori she knew and she instinctively _knew_ that in this place she couldn't rely on Hibari-san to appear like a vengeful demon if things got out of hand.

Walking in a random direction, after discreetly marking which way she had gone with rocks she found on the path, she started to become concerned.

It was as she contemplated heading back to the well when it happened. Several thugs wearing period clothing (all patched and dirty) appeared and spotted her before she had a chance to duck out of sight.

"It's the fucking gaijin!"

She started at that... why on earth were they calling her a 'foreigner'? More to the point, why did they seem to recognize her when she had absolutely no idea where she was?

Recognizing the danger level was higher than normal, she bolted. She could hear the thugs behind her, and she had absolutely no doubt that if she was caught it would only end very, very badly for her.

Without warning a larger thug appeared before her...she couldn't stop in time, and ended up almost knocked out by a minor blow to the head. Considering all the hits and bruises she had taken over the years, it nearly made her pass out.

She made sure to go limp, as if it really had knocked her unconscious...she wasn't an idiot and she needed information. Not for the first time she was glad that puberty had yet to hit her with any real force. She could still be mistaken for a boy, unless they removed her pants.

From what she could make out (their Japanese was odd and very archaic for some reason) they believed her to be some "foreigner" by the name of Ieyasu that had recently moved in with one of the more prominent samurai families. The current head of which had brought his "foreign friends" to live with him despite the fact no one in town really wanted them around.

For the most part the "obvious gaijin" stayed out of everyone's way, but there was still a lot of friction.

Apparently they were going to rough her up and then ransom her to the family, since the clan was rather well off.

Tsukiyo kept quiet and did nothing to indicate that she was fully awake, though her head was still throbbing. She had worse aches before, so she knew if push came to shove she could easily bolt.

Keeping silent was her best course of action, though apparently the 'lead thug' was a bit unhappy that she was still 'out cold'.

She did wake up when her stomach started to growl, but they didn't bother to feed her anything. Not that she would have eaten it. She managed to sneak some of her snack from lunch behind their backs, glad that it was something she could eat _quietly_ , even if she had to hide the wrapper.

It was around that time that she heard people talking. Someone sounded both confused and very angry. Oddly, she felt a weird sense of safety and protection coming from outside.

There was a loud crash, followed by shouting.

She wanted to hide, but the way the thugs were positioned made it impossible to do so...they'd only drag her out if she did, she could tell.

The ramshackle door slammed open, revealing a man in yet another period outfit but this one far better made and wearing an odd straw hat that hid most of his features. She could tell he wasn't from Japan though... it was a rare person indeed who had _naturally_ blond hair in Japan and was usually a sign of mixed blood.

The man was fast, and didn't have any mercy for the thugs.

"Are you alright?" he asked, in accented Japanese.

He carefully tilted the hat long enough for her to get a good look at his face...and she promptly fainted from shock.

Because the man who had rescued her...looked almost identical to the face she saw in the mirror, save a few bits and pieces.

Due to her fainting spell she missed an identical look of shocked disbelief on his face.

* * *

Giotto was having a very weird day.

It had started out normally enough. He had gone out with the hat Asari had firmly suggested they all wear to hide their features to make the villagers tolerate their presence a bit easier, along with his favorite outfit.

Then around lunch he heard a weird rumor that the 'blond gaijin leader' had been captured by a local bandit gang that he kept meaning to deal with. Naturally the rumor caught his full attention so he went to investigate.

Apparently the idiots had caught someone who bore a resemblance to him and decided to hold them for ransom. He wasn't about to let some poor villager suffer as a hostage.

The thugs were _very_ surprised to see him, and he made quick work of them since he was already annoyed that they had a hostage.

One look at the person they kidnapped had him really pissed though. He could tell they were just a kid, though their outfit was a bit closer to what he used to see in Italy.

Probably why they assumed it was him in the first place.

"Are you alright?" he asked the kid, tilting his hat up to get a better look at their face...only to gape in shock when he registered what he was seeing.

The kid looked almost identical to him, with a few minor details. For one thing they had caramel colored hair instead of blond, and they were much younger than he was. Barely in their teens if he wasn't mistaken. They were also skinny, almost painfully so and barely able to reach his chin. Their skin tone was closer to the locals, but there was a clear hint of mixed blood. Their eyes were a warm brown that bordered on amber.

Their clothes though... they were both familiar and strange. The pants were a bit closer to what he used to wear before coming to Japan, and the shirt looked more like something he wore under a jacket complete with tie. Except if he wasn't mistaken he could clearly see the barest hints of a possible bust, meaning that this was a _girl_ wearing _men's_ clothing. The teen was feminine looking enough to be either a girl or a boy with very effeminate features.

Seeing the poor kid faint from the same shock he was experiencing...and probably from relief at the rescue, Giotto didn't even think twice. He picked them up and carried them out, and quickly revised his thought about their gender.

Definitely a young girl. One just becoming a young woman, from the looks of things.

What the hell happened to his ordinary day?

 _An hour later..._

Giotto eagerly awaited for the girl to wake up. It seemed her day was just as trying as his own.

Fortunately she didn't faint a second time upon realizing they had almost identical faces.

He smile at her and gently wrapped a little of his Sky around her body...only to fight back a frown when he felt something _blocking_ it. Was it possible she had a seal on her Flames or something? Asari had mentioned it was possible after he discovered how to create the Zero Point Breakthrough, but never went into details.

"Who... who are you?"

"Ieyasu. Sorry about that mess...those idiots thought you were me. Though now I can see why."

"T-Tsukiyo," she said shyly.

It took every ounce of manly willpower not to hug the stuffing out of her. She was too cute!

"So how did you end up here?"

"I fell into a well. Well, tripped, really. I thought I was going to hit some debris or water, but found myself in a dry well with a clear view of the sky when I had to go through several brambles to stumble across it, with trees blocking some of the view."

"An old well? You mean that one that is made from some special wood that has no water in it?" said Giotto incredulous.

Supposedly a soothsayer told Asari's clan to build it, despite the fact it wasn't anywhere _near_ water, around twenty years ago and it had sat there ever since to trick travelers.

Tsukiyo could only shrug helplessly.

"So why is a cute girl like you wearing boy's clothing?" he asked, changing the subject.

"I'd rather not talk about it," said Tsukiyo.

She really wouldn't. After making the mistake of looking up what "whore" meant shortly before puberty finally started to kick in, she had become extra paranoid of being alone around her bullies. Considering the general level of apathy when it came to the amount of harassment and bullying she endured from the adults, it was simply safer to run the risk of what Hibari might do to her for deliberately wearing the wrong uniform than what could happen if her worst bullies got ideas simply because of her gender.

As a result she never went _anywhere_ that wasn't regularly patrolled by the Disciplinary Committee or had plenty of witnesses.

Giotto gently patted her on the head.

"Would you be freaked out if I hugged you? You look like you really need it."

"I don't mind, since you asked first."

She wasn't quite prepared for the glomp, but there was a weird sort of furry feeling, like she was hugging a bit cat that wrapped around her. It was really nice and she found herself relaxing into it.

Giotto helped her up and walked her back to the well to see if they could find answers.

She looked down and thought she saw something of hers at the bottom.

Carefully dropping down, she was completely unprepared for the odd rush through her veins and the sudden return of sounds she had taken for granted.

Baffled, she found her bag on the ground and picked it up. Seeing a vine nearby, she went to climb it...and almost made it to the top before it broke off and she was sent tumbling back in.

Once again the familiar background sound disappeared, except this time she found a sturdy rope hanging from the side of the well.

"Are you alright?! You disappeared for a moment there," said Giotto in open concern.

Tsukiyo blinked, before realization hit her. Then she facepalmed as she realized what the well actually _was,_ or at least what it did.

She climbed up and looked at the well warily for a moment.

"I think this well allows me to travel between here and where I live," she said after a moment. Or more precisely _when_ she lived.

Giotto looked hopeful at that.

"Does that mean you'll come back?"

"Considering I have zero friends and very little reason to avoid this area, I would say so," she replied.

Giotto perked up hearing that. He was interested in finding out why she looked so much like him.


	2. Chapter 2

Tsukiyo quickly grew to like hanging out with Ieyasu, even if it was beyond weird seeing an older blond version of herself.

After a month of meeting him on the weekends, she tentatively called him Ieyasu-nii-san...and he about exploded with happiness. Apparently he had always wanted a little sibling to dote on, but never got the chance.

She was getting used to the sudden hugs that made her feel like she was hugging something warm and furry.

"Asari and the others are getting annoyed with me," commented Ieyasu. "They know I've found someone interesting and they're demanding I share, but I want to hold back this surprise as long as possible."

"Because I look like your double?" she asked dryly.

Ieyasu's grin was positively devious.

" _Exactly_. I can already hear G cursing now, the second he sees you. Alaude might try to play distant, but one look at you and he'll think fluffy kitten and try to steal you for himself," said Ieyasu, looking positively gleeful at the idea. "He's a sucker for small animals."

"Sounds like Hibari. I would swear I saw him rescuing a small bird that hurt it's wing, and now it's been hanging around the area he frequents the most."

Ieyasu laughed, because that sounded like something Alaude would do. And he denied having a bunch of feathered followers.

"What about your other friends?"

"Asari is pretty calm about things, and I think he'd be pretty happy that you're so fluent in Japanese already. Took us months to finally get to the point where he wasn't leaving the room to laugh at our accents, or our attempts to use the chopsticks," said Ieyasu.

Tsukiyo grinned.

"I knew you weren't from Japan with that hair. Maybe if you dyed it black then people might not notice you as much."

"You might have a point. If Knuckle didn't insist on wearing his priests robes and talking about God then I think the locals would like him more."

"Actually considering the fact he's Catholic he wouldn't have been liked much anyway. The number of those who believe in that particular deity are a mere drop against a very large lake of Shinto/Buddhist worshipers. And that's just in Japan," said Tsukiyo apologetically.

Ieyasu had to wince at the reminder. Knuckle had been rather unhappy to find actual _rocks_ thrown at him because of his faith. They had known the transition wouldn't be easy, but they weren't entirely prepared for this sort of backlash. They were lucky Asari's clan was so well liked in the area...he'd seen other foreigners chased off entirely by the locals.

So long as they kept their heads down, they were able to at least coexist with the villagers who were slowly warming up to them.

Ieyasu quickly changed the subject. He came here to chat with "Kiyo-chan" as he called her, not be reminded of the headaches he was facing. He would remember quickly enough when he went home.

"So when's your birthday?"

"October 14th," she said without thinking.

"But that's only a week away!" said Ieyasu. Which meant he had only a mere week to get her something that would suit her.

"It's fine if I don't get anything. Half the time Mama doesn't even remember it unless Tatsuya reminds her, and even then it's a fluke if she remembers in time to celebrate it. Oddly she never forgets Tatsuya's birthday," said Tsukiyo unconcerned. It wasn't like she had anyone to properly celebrate it with.

Ieyasu was very unhappy hearing that. So a plan began to form in his mind, one that would both amuse his 'little sister' and prank his Guardians. Alaude was due back around that time, so if he was lucky he'd get more than just G and Knuckle.

The grin on his face spoke volumes that he was up to something.

"What are you planning?" she asked.

"Just a little prank on my friends. I've been wanting you to meet them anyway," said Ieyasu grinning. "Here's what we can do for your birthday..."

The more she heard about his plan, the wider her smile got. This sounded like a bit of harmless fun for both of them and a great way to liven up an otherwise boring birthday.

Ieyasu's friends were in for a massive shock. He absolutely couldn't wait.

* * *

"Is it just me or is Giotto acting like a bigger idiot than normal?" asked G irritably.

"It's not you," said Knuckle. "He keeps looking at us and snickering and I can't get him to say what it's about."

"Not to mention he keeps asking when Alaude is due back," said G. "He better not be preparing some sort of stupid welcome back party."

Alaude would lynch him if he tried. He hated parties.

"What's this about a party?" asked Asari.

"Giotto is acting weird. As in weirder than normal. And he keeps snickering when he sees us and won't tell us why," said G.

"Oh. He said he was planning to introduce us to someone by next week and he was hoping Alaude would be here in time to meet her properly," said Asari.

"Wait... _her_?"

"It's not what you think," said Asari shaking his head. "From what I could get from him he thinks of this mystery girl as more of a little sister than anything, and she doesn't mind humoring him."

Actually Asari had managed to get the fact that this girl was coming from the odd dry well his grandfather had built at the suggestion of a soothsayer in order to make his clan more prosperous using a Tree of Ages, and it hadn't taken that much to guess that the girl was likely a time traveler. Considering some of the stories he heard coming from Inuyasha Forest, he wouldn't be that surprised.

Odds were that he had stumbled across his descendant or something and wanted to shock the others. Asari had found it great fun, hence why he had kept his silence on the matter.

Alaude managed to come within a day of the expected date when this mystery girl was supposed to come. Which gave him time to rest before the meeting.

* * *

 _The day in question..._

G, Alaude and Knuckle were heading to the well. Apparently Giotto had something to do, so he couldn't escort the girl to the house. Asari was also out, since he was helping with whatever Giotto was planning.

When they reached the area in question, it took them a few moments to register the sound of a cat meowing from one of the nearby trees.

Alaude, being a sucker for small animals (he would deny that if questioned) took a moment to locate which tree it was coming from. He started to climb, if only to help the feline down.

Blue eyes stared into startled brown, before the _girl_ yelped in shock.

She fell down two branches, before she managed to catch herself for a moment.

G, alerted to the sound of the very human and distinctly feminine yelp, rushed to the tree...only to have the girl crash on top of him.

"Ow... I should have known Ieyasu-nii's plan was going to backfire..." complained the girl.

Knuckle, stared at her in shocked disbelief.

"Get off of me!"

"I'm so sorry about that!" she said quickly, scrambling off his back.

G rubbed his back, only to stare in shock.

"What the hell?!"

The girl could have passed for a younger female Giotto with slightly darker hair and brownish-amber eyes. She looked like an innocent fluffy kitten. And her clothes were closer to something they used to wear in Italy, except of different make.

Alaude came down, and gave her a look.

"Did that idiot tell you to pretend you were a cat in the tree?" he asked bluntly.

"He said it would be funny to scare his friends into losing their grip and falling out of it. He didn't say a single thing about having a friend who looks like Hibari!" said the girl slightly annoyed. She was supposed to make _them_ fall out of the tree, not the other way around! Falling from that height hurt!

Because really, the man before her could have passed for a blond, blue eyed Hibari Kyouya complete with annoyed aura. She was half expecting him to break out a pair of tonfas for the prank.

"I am going to kill that idiot," said G.

"Are you alright miss?"

She turned to look at him before she blinked.

"Now this is really weird. You look almost like an older student at my school who really loves boxing..." she replied. "And I'm fine. I've had worse bumps."

Because he could have passed for a Catholic, black haired version of Ryohei Sasegawa!

Could this day get any weirder?

G grumbled under his breath while they took her to the manor they were partially staying in. Knuckle looked rather happy that the girl was willing to talk to him civilly and politely listened to him talk about God rather than throw rocks at him for being Catholic. Alaude was his usual grumpy self the entire walk, not really amused by the fact Giotto had dared to prank him.

"Kiyo-chan, you made it!" said the idiot happily.

"Ieyasu-nii, you are an idiot," said the girl flatly.

G's smirk at the downtrodden expression on Giotto's face almost made the entire prank worth it.

"Well food's ready," said Asari.

The girl stared at him, before glaring at Giotto.

"First the Hibari double, then Sasegawa and now Yamamoto!" she said exasperated. "You could have given me a head's up about what your friends looked like you know! Falling out of a tree isn't fun at all!"

"Wait, they were supposed to be the ones who fell out of the tree!" protested Giotto.

G slapped his idiot boss on the head.

" _She crashed on top of me, idiota!"_ he said, slipping into Italian from annoyance.

"In any case... happy birthday Kiyo-chan!" said Giotto, recovering from the slap.

"It's your birthday, miss?" asked Knuckle.

"Ieyasu-nii thought it would be funny to prank his friends on my birthday for some reason. I thought it was harmless enough."

"How old are you?" asked Asari politely. He was already amused by the whole thing.

"Fourteen."

"Shouldn't you be at home with your family celebrating then, instead of humoring this idiot?" asked G.

"That would imply my mother is going to remember what day it is before nightfall," she deadpanned. "Odds are Tatsuya will remind her when he gets home."

Talk about an awkward silence.

Tsukiyo grinned cheekily.

"Of course this means I get to dump sake or something equally foul on Ieyasu-nii's head for convincing me to pretend I was a stranded cat in a tree just to prank his friends."

G snickered at that.

" _Okay, you can keep her, idiot,"_ said G cackling at the look on Giotto's face. Asari looked like he was trying hard not to laugh as well.

The party was small, but there was something about the bright smile on Tsukiyo's face that made it entirely worth the minor prank Giotto played on them. She really was like a mini, female Giotto except she was far more innocent than he had been at that age.

"There's something I don't get... why are you wearing boy clothing when you're a girl?" asked G baffled. Because all the females he knew wouldn't be caught dead in pants.

"...I'd rather not talk about, though where I come from girls wearing pants isn't exactly that uncommon. It easier to move around in than a skirt anyway and there's less chance of accidentally flashing someone," said Tsukiyo after a moment.

"'Flashing'?" said Knuckle, not really getting the reference.

Her expression was rather dry.

"You know how young, impressionable boys think it's funny to flip up a girl's skirt just to see what's underneath even if it's almost certainly going to get them slapped?" she asked dryly. They all nodded. "Well when that happens it's called 'flashing' someone. It's rather annoying, really."

Especially since school skirts were so short that it made it easy for the wind to do it and give all the boys a good long look underneath. One of many reasons she preferred pants.

When she returned home, she wasn't entirely surprised to find that her mother had once again forgotten her birthday, and since Tatsuya was hanging out with his friends he had likely forgotten it as well. She wouldn't begrudge them that small bit of happiness.

She was just glad her brother didn't have some absurd jealousy towards her. He adored his big sister, since she actually listened and helped as best she could when it came to homework. She spent time with him without comparing him to a man that was never around like their mother did.

"Tsu-nee, I am so sorry! I completely forgot what today was..." said Tatsuya, tears streaming down his face. He was the only one who ever remembered her birthday properly.

She scooped her little brother into a big hug.

"It's okay Tatsu-chan," she said. "At least you remembered it on the actual date and didn't try to throw together a party where no one ever comes like Mom usually does."

Tatsuya snuggled up against his older sister.

Predictably, Nana remembered two days later on her own and tried to throw a 'party'...only to deflate when Tsukiyo told her not to bother because the only ones who would be there would be her and Tatsuya.

Tsukiyo was so used to this sort of thing that instead she used it as an opportunity to get some really good gifts after the fact, since her mother didn't know the first thing about what her daughter had an interest in. Half the time she just got a decent wad of money to buy what she wanted and they left it at that. It was a miracle her mother remembered her on Christmas.

Hm...there was something that might cheer Knuckle up. The poor priest was very downhearted because he had to suffer the same religious persecution that inspired the Crusades and other pointless slaughters throughout history.


	3. Chapter 3

Tsukiyo was a breath of fresh air for Giotto and his Guardians, even if there was the odd fact she could have passed for his younger sister.

Unlike Giotto, the locals didn't give her wary glances in the least.

Then again Giotto was Catholic, whereas Tsukiyo knew most of the local traditions by heart.

Seeing his "younger sister" recite the Buddhist prayer for the dead and being properly respectful when a group was passing by to cremate their fallen grandfather was apparently all the locals needed to treat her kindly. Especially since she didn't have the odd accent that Giotto or his friends had.

She, at least, didn't stumble over the local language and knew how to behave, even if she dressed oddly!

So it was with some surprise that she was the one to suggest they celebrate Christmas, and not Giotto.

"You celebrate Christmas?" asked Knuckle.

"It's less about the birth of Christ, and more like a romantic holiday but the idea is roughly the same," admitted Tsukiyo. "People decorate trees, hand out presents and spend time with family, even if they don't visit Church. That and order chicken."

Knuckle was only a little disappointed to hear that, but it was something that would definitely cheer him up.

Even if Asari's clan wasn't inclined to celebrate it in the first place.

Tsukiyo had a brilliant idea...something that might ease the tension between Giotto and his friends and the locals.

"Christmas is about the spirit of giving, right?" she asked.

"More or less. Why?" asked Giotto.

"Well how about instead of the traditional Christmas that you're used to, we do something a little modified? I remember reading an old story about three travelers who managed to get the locals to warm up to them despite the cold reception they were given upon arriving."

Now she had his full interest, as well as Knuckle.

"Three travelers came upon a village that didn't really welcome outsiders. None of the villagers were willing to share their food, so they decided to use a little misdirection. They made the claim that they could make a delicious stew using only three rocks. They proceeded to get a big pot and filled it almost to the brim with water from the river, and put in three ordinary rocks that they had found. Making a big production of how 'delicious' it was, they managed to entice the villagers to come and try it."

Giotto was grinning already.

"So what happened?"

"Well they started making innocent suggestions of how to make it better, after the locals came to try the 'stew' themselves. So a few people volunteered some spare vegetables, spices and a bit of meat they had lying around that was still good. Soon they had coaxed the village to help make the 'stew' even better, creating something wonderful. By the time the pot was finished, not only had the travelers eaten but so had the village and they had warmed up considerably towards them."

Giotto had a thoughtful look on his face.

"That sounds like a really good trick."

"Food has a way of bringing people together. About how many people are in the village?" asked Tsukiyo.

"At least fifty to seventy-five people, and ten children," said Knuckle promptly.

"Japan is a very community oriented country. If you want to get them to warm up to you then you should _use_ that," said Tsukiyo bluntly.

"What would you suggest then?" asked Giotto, intrigued.

"Go hunting, even if you have to go a bit out of the way to do it. Bringing in fresh meat and making enough food to feed the village without expecting thanks might help to warm the locals up towards you. Though learning the local customs and showing an equal respect to them would really help long term," she replied. "You don't have to _believe_ in the same gods, just acknowledge that their faith is just as strong as yours."

Knuckle could accept that idea.

Giotto and G went out hunting for fresh meat, enough to feed the entire village. The idea of making a big stew pot to be shared was a brilliant one, and food bringing people together was a simple enough concept. Asari certainly thought it had a lot of merit.

Tsukiyo spent a good two days explaining the religion Giotto's friends (except Asari who was firmly Buddhist) was actually about in a way the locals could not only understand but tolerate.

Explaining that Knuckle served a "Greater Kami" who was a bit more diverse than say, Amaterasu, and held a very close belief system that was similar to Buddha, right down to the 'good deeds equal good karma in the afterlife' and 'too many bad deeds send you to hell (singular)' did wonders to clear up the confusion about Knuckle's religion.

They could accept that his 'robes' were similar to the garb that Buddhist priests wore while spreading the teachings of their faith, and that he wasn't trying to make them worship his 'god' so much as following the tenants of what he was taught. Which was spreading good will and kindness.

By the time Christmas Eve rolled around, the smell of food cooking drew several curious and hungry villagers out to see what was going on.

The sight of Tsukiyo and Asari handing out free food was enough to bring the rest, especially since they were at least trying to foster good relations with the community.

 _A few days later_

Knuckle hugged Tsukiyo firmly.

"Thank you," he said with relief.

"I take it the explanation I gave helped?"

"They've started to treat him more like a Buddhist priest than a pariah and they quit throwing rocks at him," said Giotto. "It definitely helped."

"Well Buddha and God have a lot in common. The problem was that you were approaching it the wrong way and they didn't want you 'corrupting' the children to a religion that they didn't understand. Keeping it simple helps," she replied.

"Your idea to have one of us teach basic math to the kids helped a lot too. The adults aren't giving us such dirty looks anymore."

G and Knuckle had taken to giving basic math lessons to the few children in the village well within range of their parents watchful eyes. Having someone teach their children something as useful as how to add and subtract (not to mention free babysitting) while staying close enough that the parents could call their children over to help with the harvesting and planting was slowly changing the attitude of the locals to something close to friendly. The fact Giotto had absolutely no problem going to other villages to pick up medicines for the elderly and the sick did a lot to improve their image too.

As Tsukiyo had put it, Japan was a very community oriented place. Giving small pieces of support was doing wonders for their image and warming people up towards them quite a bit. The 'big things' like the Christmas Eve feast (which the villagers had liked so much that Giotto was seriously thinking about making it a yearly thing) only helped to reinforce that.

Giotto wasn't the only one who now had a habit of hugging her without much warning. With the considerable lack of positive affection from anyone save Tatsuya, ("Who was a big boy now and couldn't be seen hugging his favorite big sister except in private, really.") she was able to push away any unease that might have formed and accepted it eagerly.

She had become their 'little sister' figure, and by this point "Ieyasu" and his friends found it absurdly easy to ignore the fact she was practically a female version of their boss and friend. Just as she found it easier to ignore the fact that Alaude, Asari and Knuckle bore a terrifying resemblance to Hibari Kyouya, Yamamoto Takeshi and Sasegawa Ryohei.

Coincidentally the older men had all quietly agreed to teach Tsukiyo Italian, purely because it gave them a chance to bond with her. She was really too cute, and seeing her smile when she got something right brightened their day.

* * *

"Wait... you can stay a few weeks simply because it's _summer_?" said Giotto in delight.

"Summer vacation. No school and my mother thinks I'm spending time with a 'new friend' and as long as I at least call her every few days she won't ask questions. Tatsuya is going to a camp with his friends, so I'm free to stay here for a bit," said Tsukiyo brightly.

Giotto's grin was very wide hearing that. Her ability to speak Italian was rather limited, but with actual practice he was certain they could get her fluent in no time. Plus considering the similarities between it and Latin, Knuckle could probably get her speaking that with a bit of work.

Alaude, despite his grumpy exterior, had shown a strong enough interest in the "kitten" as he called her that he had openly suggested teaching her French and what little English he knew as well.

School grades to the contrary, Tsukiyo actually loved learning new things.

Besides, this meant they could figure out what exactly was going on with her Flames, since Giotto _knew_ she was Active like them but for some reason was unable to access it. Knuckle's brief exam had told them that much.

Once Tsukiyo had settled into the rather modest home that Giotto, G, and Knuckle shared (they had gotten used to sharing the same home that it felt odd living too far apart...besides, they could share the chores) and a quiet routine had been established, Giotto took her to see Asari's clan Elders concerning the seal on her Flames.

They were distinctly _not_ happy about it, and considering she had made the 'gaijin' more palatable for them, they agreed to help remove it.

Giotto was rather dubious about overpowering it with his own Flames, considering it risked sending her into complete Discord if she wasn't compatible with his Sky.

However the outpouring of pure Sky that blazed out once he did washed those worries away.

If Asari's clan was unhappy about the seal before, the fact that it had been a _Sky_ Flame that was being held back _really_ pissed them off. After all, it was only because Asari was bonded to Giotto that they had allowed his 'foreign friends' to stay with them in the first place!

On the plus side, once she woke up from that incident Giotto was over the moon about the whole thing since it meant he had so many tricks that he could teach her!

The day they found out she had the same knack for hand to hand combat that Giotto did (she was absolute pants using G's crossbow, never mind a normal bow and arrow and she was a bit too skittish to handle a sword, even a wooden one) was one of the defining moments of her life, next to falling into the well in the first place.

Knuckle, as it turned out, used to be a champion kick boxer. He still practiced occasionally, but had been lacking a decent sparring partner.

Tsukiyo did not regret asking him to teach her, no matter how sore she was after. The fact that he would slip into Latin and Italian at random, and she was able to respond in the same language without thinking said volumes of how much she was learning.

It was almost a shame she had to return to her own time. She preferred the easy pace of the past compared to the hectic day to day of modern times.

Even if it was far more vibrant and tolerant in comparison.

* * *

If anyone noticed the change in "Tsunayoshi", they did not mention it. However one person took extreme interest in the fact she had a habit of vanishing into an area most people avoided because of the dense thorns in the area that were too troublesome to properly clear out.

He was not like the herbivores, so easily dissuaded by a mere _plant_.

So it was with some shock and no little horror that "Tsunayoshi" came face to face with a curious and less than amused Hibari Kyouya seven months after falling into the well.

"Herbivore. You have some explaining to do."

Tsukiyo gulped and prayed she wouldn't be bitten to death for this.

 _Some time later, in the Reception Room_

Hibari stared down the tiny female kitten with a displeased look on his face.

"You have been wearing the boy's uniform," he noted. "You have been visiting a derelict well that has never held water according to records."

Tsukiyo didn't flinch and managed to meet him squarely in the eye. After seeing Alaude pissed off beyond belief at some bandits who tried to hurt several of the female villagers and going on a rampage to teach them the error of their ways, Hibari wasn't nearly as scary.

So long as he wasn't in the mood to bite her to death, anyway.

"I... I made the mistake of looking up what the other kids and their parents were calling my mother, mostly because at least two teachers have used similar words to describe what they thought I would end up doing once I left school and became an adult. I hit the wrong link and I realized how easily I could suffer a similar fate if I wasn't careful, so I made a point to hide my gender since it was less likely to happen to a boy."

Hibari's expression was positively stormy hearing that.

"What exactly was said?" he demanded.

"My mother has been called a 'whore' or a 'prostitute' more than once by the neighbors and the parents of my classmates, since it's known she doesn't have an actual job to pay for our house or living expenses. It doesn't help that my father, if he's even alive, has never really made an appearance in the area or that the man she claims is her husband looks and acts like a well off drifter who comes once every few years, stays for a week and drinks heavily before disappearing without any proper explanation. Or that his so-called job is obviously a poorly thought up lie, since I highly doubt that there is such a thing as 'penguin traffic controllers'," said Tsukiyo bitterly. "Never mind that he dresses like a construction worker every time he visits, which isn't the least bit useful in such cold conditions."

Hibari was definitely going to look into who this man was and what was really going on in Sawada's home life. Then he remembered the comment she made about more than one teacher making a similar comment about _her_.

His instincts demanded he bite such herbivores to death for trying to break the small animal. One who he was beginning to suspect was an Omnivore in disguise and just needed a bit of...encouragement... to properly grow some fangs and claws.

He had noted immediately by her instinctive stance and behavior that she had been learning how to fight. The local classes for such things were all too tame and were more interested in catering to the masses than teaching _real_ fighting. More than a few black belts had to be brought down to size before they got _ideas._

"Why do you go to the well?" he asked finally.

"I go there to think. It's quiet and no one notices it when I'm there. I've managed to attach one of those emergency ladders that fold up to the side, so it's easy to climb back up. It's peaceful," she explained.

A little sanctuary where she would be left alone. He could accept that, even if he felt like she wasn't telling him the full story. He had already inspected the well itself and outside of the recently attached ladder there was nothing different about it. The well was solidly constructed.

"I will allow you to continue to wear the boy's uniform... but the second it becomes obvious that you are a female you must wear the correct one."

Tsukiyo almost sagged with relief at that. Clearly he accepted her explanation for why she wore the boy's uniform as opposed to the sailor fuku the girls were required to wear... at least until her bust started to properly develop.

Considering how small she was, she wasn't holding out hope of that happening until late teens at least. She was still waiting to hit a proper growth spurt.

"You said that several teachers have made highly inappropriate comments towards you. I need proof."

Hibari took offense to the fake carnivores trying to rise above their station by targeting small animals.

"I can do that. I can record their comments during class with my phone."

"I also expect you to meet me on the roof at least twice a week."

"What?" she almost squawked in horror.

"You are growing fangs. I want to see how quickly you can improve."

"You mean you want someone to play with that might prove interesting later," she snarked without thinking. She almost winced, but managed to hold her ground.

The glint in his eyes was pretty telling.

Considering he might actually deal with the useless teachers who were complete bastards to her because of the general apathy towards her, she could care less about becoming Hibari's newest chew toy. She'd either survive or he'd lose interest when she couldn't handle it.


	4. Chapter 4

"Kiyo-chan, what happened to you?!" said Giotto in alarm.

Her eyes were almost dead, and she looked like an almost walking bruise.

"Hibari-sempai busted me coming out of the well. He took the fact I've been learning kick boxing from Knuckle as an excuse to 'play' with me twice a week," she said flatly. "On an unrelated note, quite a few of my teachers had a rather unhappy run in with him after I gave him a recording of half the comments they made about me or my mother during class."

Nezu-sensei had been outright _fired_ for his behavior and the fact that he couldn't bribe his way through an unexpected assessment from teachers outside of Namimori. Then the parents learned he had _lied_ about graduating from a top college and that he had barely known enough about his subject to properly teach it on top of the comments... he was lucky Hibari had merely beaten the crap out of him.

So far the entire teaching staff was being quietly investigated by people who knew what they were doing. It wasn't looking good for the school, but there was high hopes that they would have competent teachers _next_ year.

That didn't stop Hibari from playing with her, though he at least pulled back his strength enough that he merely left her a walking bruise as opposed to breaking bones.

He acknowledged she was only now starting to move away from the skittish small animal into a proper omnivore, in his words.

Tsukiyo was just glad Knuckle was so good at healing... at least he was able to heal over most of the bruising when she visited. She was still sore as hell though.

Giotto fussed over her for an hour before she snapped. To be fair, it was that time of the month and she was already crabby from the bruising.

Seeing his wide-eyed expression, G couldn't help the laughter in his voice as his boss proceeded to whine about his little sister didn't love him anymore.

"Ieyasu, shut up. Clearly the kitten is tired and dealing with the same issue that made Elena nearly bite Daemon's head off at least once a month," said Alaude when his patience ran thin.

Tsukiyo snorted.

"At this point I'm glad I already had that particular 'talk' because I really don't want to see how you lot would stumble through it," she snarked. Her mood improved at the collective wince from every man in the room at that.

Giotto still fussed over her, though at least he gave her some space...in between helping her learn how to control and use her Sky flames correctly. It seemed that like him, the focus that suited her best were a pair of gauntlets.

Considering he rarely needed to fight using his Flames anymore (and the rare times he did he used a minor Sky ring), he fully planned to give her his pair once she could consistently use her Flames for longer than an hour without passing out. Fortunately the Vongola Sky Ring happened to like her enough that she _could_ use his gloves.

She was still having trouble with Hyper Dying Will mode, but at least using her Flames came somewhat naturally to her.

Tsukiyo returned home and just wanted to sleep for a week.

* * *

It was hard to tell what caused it to happen, but the second it did she had known exactly what to do. They were sparring as usual on the rooftop when something in Kyouya...after the first time she was able to hold her own for five minutes without him holding his strength entirely back to 'herbivore' levels he had permitted her to call him Kyouya in private... _clicked_ into place and his tonfas became positively covered in violet with thick indigo colored flames. More to the point his eyes, which were normally a steel-colored gray shifted to a deep violet color.

He stared at his weapons with some confusion and for some reason, disgust.

"Kyouya, calm down," she said soothingly. "The flames won't hurt you."

Kyouya's eyes swiftly went right to her own, realization dawning.

"You know what these are."

She nodded.

"You're a Cloud...and if I remember the explanation I was given you have a strong Mist secondary. The purple flame allows you to multiply things... such as your natural strength or links of a chain for instance, while the dark blue one allows you to create things so long as _you_ believe that they are real."

Kyouya looked at the Flames with new interest.

"What about red?"

"Storm, I think. It acts like acid and disintegrates things."

"Where did you learn all this?"

"Ieyasu-nii and his friends have been teaching me," said Tsukiyo, and her hand became wreathed in pure orange fire. "I have what's called a 'Sky' Flame, which is basically a sort of glue for the others. They call it Harmony."

Something in Kyouya began to _purr_ when she brought out the orange flame. That same feeling also began to sing _**MINE**_ it only got stronger the closer he walked to her.

That feeling didn't quite go away when she let it drop, but it wasn't as strong.

An odd sense of exhaustion filled him when his own fires disappeared.

"It's normal for those who just went Active to feel tired once the flames disappear. If you want I can see if Alaude can give me some control exercises for you to play around with."

Kyouya looked pleased at that, especially since it meant having less contact with someone he would rather not admit being related to. Strong or not, that man was very annoying and he disliked the fact that the midget allowed fake carnivores far weaker than he was to control him.

Tsukiyo came back two days later armed with a notebook filled with slightly archaic but still legible kanji that explained Cloud Flames and what could be done with it. It also gave some 'basic Flame exercises' in a way that appealed to him and how to recognize a harmony bond and what it meant.

There was quite a bit of detail about how Guardians acted which included a list of 'habits' that generally occurred with new Guardians, such as needing to stick close to one another until the bond properly settled and being very overprotective to the 'Sky'.

When Kyouya realized he showed several of the 'habits' that the notebook warned him about, he immediately went to find the omnivore.

Tsukiyo smiled at him, and allowed her Flames to come out...and after a moment he brought out his own with minimal difficulty. Seeing the two mesh and a feeling of ' _home_ ' and belonging fill him allowed some of the tension he hadn't known existed until that point to relax.

"Mine," declared Kyouya, not even caring that the kitten was threading her hands through his hair. He would deny leaning into her touch and they sat back against the wall.

He was a lone wolf... but he could acknowledge the need for a 'pack' to help protect the territory. And at least the omnivore wasn't afraid to get hurt so long as it was done in the name of getting stronger.

Tsukiyo not only acknowledged his strength, but she never bothered him over the little things. She only got him involved when she was in over her head and couldn't find a way to deal with it herself. More importantly any fear she had of him died a quick death when she started cussing him out in _multiple languages_ no less after a training session.

It was nice to be appreciated, even if he drudged up his knowledge of Chinese to give as good as she got.

There was a reason why the first thing anyone ever learned of a foreign language was how to swear.

* * *

The first visit Fon had made to Namimori in two years did not go at all like how he planned.

He had come to see Kyouya, only to find the boy not only _Flame_ _Active_ , but practicing with his Cloud and to a lesser extent his Mist flames with an ease that only came of regular use. This would be interesting enough...had it not been for the fact that he could also clearly sense a Guardian bond among those Flames, naturally formed.

Naturally this was both alarming and a relief. Alarming because now that he was Active Kyouya made an even bigger target... Clouds were notoriously rare for a _reason_ , and relieved because it meant that the boy might actually live to see past his teenage years depending on what sort of Sky he had bonded to.

Rather than announce his presence as he usually did, Fon chose to watch from afar and find out who Kyouya's Sky was.

What he expected to find and what he got were so different that it was laughable.

The girl was _tiny_ , more like a kitten really, and was clearly only just starting to develop a competence in hand to hand fighting. She was just barely above intermediate level in skill, and was openly cursing Kyouya out in different languages during their sparring practice. Kyouya, he noted with some interest, was only just holding back his full strength to avoid breaking anything. However there were more than a few bruises on the girl who took it all with minimal complaint.

Fon only just dodged the tonfa thrown at him, which he easily caught.

"Annoying carnivore."

"Kyouya," said Fon evenly. "Do you mind if I talk with your...playmate... for a moment?"

He noted the immediate reaction to that request. Kyouya's instincts as a Guardian were strong and he moved to a more defensive position against a potential threat. However it was very clear that he also believed his Sky strong enough to at least hold her own without him having to do all the heavy lifting.

"Kyouya, it's fine. Perhaps it would be better if we talked here in the open."

Kyouya's aura wavered slightly before settling immediately when she lightly put her hand on his arm...without even the hint of Flames. He was still dealing with the side effects of a recent Guardian bond then. Which meant he would be extra protective of the girl if he even thought she was being threatened. By having this chat in Kyouya's territory, she was allowing him to drift while still keeping her within range of his protection.

"To start with, what do you know of Flames?" asked Fon bluntly.

"The seven most 'common' types are know as the Flames of the Sky. They are Storm, Sky, Sun, Lightning, Rain, Mist and Cloud. Their properties are Disintegration, Harmony, Activation, Hardening, Tranquility, Creation, and Propagation. Kyouya is a Cloud with a strong Mist secondary so he can multiply things such as his own strength or a chain's links, and with some practice create illusions purely with his own imagination...considering his habits he's more likely to have success sending carnivores like panthers and tigers at his enemies or turning the place into a jungle or something," said Tsukiyo immediately. "Or possibly create a wolf pack."

Fon didn't bother trying to fight the grin he had at that comment. It was so true. And she had more or less hit the gist of what Kyouya could do, while leaving it wide open to interpretation.

"I'm guessing from the fact you have a preference for red that you're a Storm, right?" she continued. He nodded. "That means you can turn things to ash or melt them like acid."

Fon was rather pleased he didn't have to explain about Flames, though she had barely made a dip in a very extensive subject.

"So if I were to say Omerta..." started Fon.

"Vindice," said Tsukiyo with a moment's hesitation. "Though I still don't get why Ieyasu-nii was so freaked out by them."

"Most sensible people are. So I take it you also know about Skies and Guardians."

"Ieyasu-nii explained it to me after they finally figured out how to break a seal that had been put on me as a kid. He was not happy about that, and neither were his Rain's clan since they were the ones who finally figured out how to do it. Not only was I left completely undefended, but it felt like all my potential was cut off leaving me a complete mess."

Not only that, but if it had stayed in place then Kyouya might never have found his Sky.

"I'm surprised you were able to harmonize with Kyouya so soon after he went Active," commented Fon. "Most girls your age would be afraid of him after all."

"Why would I be afraid of him?" asked Tsukiyo baffled. "Sure he's grumpy and he doesn't like being around others, but he's the only reason I felt safe enough to come to school at all even before the seal was removed. I know he's a bit violent, but he only goes after people who _might_ be able to give him a good fight and he protects the weaker students rather than bully them. At least I know that Kyouya understands how to exercise proper restraint, rather than take advantage of others."

Whatever doubts Fon _might_ have had about Kyouya's Sky disappeared in an instant. Hearing her sincere admiration and respect for Kyouya's strength without an ounce of fear and the fact she felt safe while around him said all he needed to know about this particular Guardian bond.

The girl cared about Kyouya and understood him on a level most generally didn't bother to because they were afraid of his violent tendencies.

His smile was rather warm and pleased knowing Kyouya was in good hands.

Provided the girl's family didn't muck it up.

"Which Family are you with?"

"I have no idea," said Tsukiyo. "The only ones in my immediate family are my mother and younger brother, and unless I see a paternity test I refuse to acknowledge that bum my mother claims is my father."

Fon blinked. So he tried another tactic.

"What's your surname then?"

He could at least start tracking down who Kyouya would be dealing with once news got out that the girl was an Active Sky collecting Guardians.

"Sawada."

Fon started to develop a headache and prayed he was wrong. Because he only knew of _one_ Sawada that was a recognized Sky that for some reason had _no_ Guardians.

"This 'bum' you speak of...does he have blond hair, a scruffy almost beard, act like a complete idiot and go by the name Iemitsu?" asked Fon slowly, with a distinctly pained look on his face.

"You know him?"

"I know _of_ him. A colleague of mine is unfortunate enough to work for him, and she complains about his behavior regularly," admitted Fon.

He would need a DNA test to prove his suspicions, but from the looks of things Kyouya had ended up bonded to a Vongola Sky. Rather ironic, considering they were indirectly descended from Vongola Primo's Cloud Guardian Alaude.

* * *

Tsukiyo had opted to make an unexpected visit to Ieyasu and the others (today had been a half day) because she wanted some advice on how to deal with a particularly tricky situation involving a classmate of hers that looked like he could use something to ground him in reality.

Only to stumble into a particularly awkward situation involving Alaude and Ieyasu making out.

"Kiyo-chan!" yelped Ieyasu, before he quickly tried to explain things.

She held up a hand.

"Don't bother. I really don't care if you and Alaude are a couple or something else," she said flatly.

Ieyasu looked at her carefully, as if trying to check for any signs of disgust. All he saw was calm acceptance, nothing else. Like it really didn't bother her in the least that she had caught them going at it.

"You're really okay about this?"

"So long as I get nieces and nephews out of both of you, I could really care less. It's not like it's uncommon where I'm from and I'm fine with it so long as you're both happy. If I might make a suggestion though?"

The two men listened with rapt attention. Tsukiyo had a large store of wisdom and common sense that belied her age, and her suggestions often had long term benefits.

"I would look for a wife that is already in the family way and doesn't have a husband. One who will agree to have your heirs and keep silent about your relationship in exchange for the security of having a husband," she said bluntly.

"Why?" asked Alaude curiously.

"You of all people know how Catholics view bastards," said Tsukiyo flatly. Ieyasu winced. "Now imagine how a Japanese family would feel about their daughter not protecting her virtue as stringently as she should have and the dishonor of having a child without a father."

Ieyasu winced at that. He could only imagine the public ramifications of that, even in Asari's clan.

"Even having a 'gaijin' for a husband is preferable than having a child without a 'father' to claim. I'm sure that the girl would be happy to keep quiet since it means they can partially salvage their honor. And adopting a child not your own is still considered publicly acceptable, even if they can't be your heir. If nothing else the 'eldest' can be a steward of the family or something," said Tsukiyo.

Alaude and Giotto looked at each other. It was a simple solution to the secret they had kept for years. Their 'wives' would be more inclined to keep their silence on their preferences while still being able to sire 'legitimate' heirs. As a noble, the concept of marrying someone you weren't actually in love with was a familiar one to Alaude.

Daemon had been lucky in that regard, for as long as it had lasted. He had genuinely loved Elena.

"We'll take it under consideration," said Giotto after a moment. "So what are you doing here so early?"

"Half-day and Kyouya is currently 'playing' with someone he denies being related to even though they look far too much alike to be otherwise. A Storm, no less, with a weird pacifier around his neck and a pet monkey."

Giotto and Alaude took a moment to digest the revelation that her new Cloud was apparently related to the Storm Arcobaleno.

"So why come here?"

"Well I was going to ask Asari for advice but he's not in the village at the moment, so I came here instead."

"Boy advice?" grinned Giotto.

"In a fashion, though _not_ what you're thinking of," she said glaring at him.

Giotto snickered.

"Keep it up Ieyasu-nii and I'll be asking who tops in your relationship," said Tsukiyo.

"Tops?" said Giotto.

Tsukiyo's grin was positively wicked. Giotto had a bad feeling about it already.

"You know, who is the dominant and who is the submissive? Because I really don't see Alaude laying there and taking it without a fight. He seems to be the one to take control, not the other way around."

Giotto sputtered at that. Alaude couldn't help but be amused by the way the kitten was embarrassing the hell out of Giotto with absolutely no effort or shame in the least.

"I am not talking about _that_ with my little sister!"

Tsukiyo looked at Alaude with an evil grin. This was too funny.

"I can get some books if you're interested to give you ideas in the bedroom. Like I said before the idea of two guys dating isn't that uncommon where I'm from and they have quite a bit of literature on the subject. In fact it's a fantasy for some girls to imagine two hot males going at it in the bedroom," she informed him.

Alaude was smirking at the look on Giotto's face. It was a mixture of horrified and complete embarrassment at the way his "innocent little sister" was so casually talking about two men having relations in the bedroom.

This was positively hilarious.


	5. Chapter 5

Takeshi was having an off week. The championships were coming up and he was training his ass off, but he had noticed with some disgust that none of his teammates were doing the same. In fact he had seen more than a few of them goofing off after school while passing the batting cages he frequented.

It was as if they expected _him_ to shoulder all the weight of winning and it pissed him off.

Most wouldn't notice it, but he had a well hidden disgust and dislike of the people around him. He had long since perfected his smiling mask to hide what he really felt about people.

Deep inside though, he felt like he was drowning in a sea of expectations that were heaped upon him with nothing to help him anchor himself.

He was clinically depressed, but still he kept pretending everything was fine.

Takeshi wanted to sigh...instead he kept up his fake smile.

So he was quite surprised when out of the blue someone pressed a cold water bottle against his neck.

"You look like you need it, Yamamoto-san."

Takeshi had to blink at the most skittish boy in his class standing there with a water bottle and actually _talking_ to him.

Namely because Tsuna seemed to keep to himself when he wasn't stuck acting as Hibari's secretary. How he ended up with that role was a mystery to everyone, but the smaller boy had yet to be bitten to death for "crowding".

Takeshi laughed nervously.

"Thanks."

"You shouldn't smile like that if you don't really mean it, Yamamoto-san."

Takeshi froze.

"What?"

"I said you shouldn't smile if you aren't actually _happy_. How are people supposed to tell if you're okay if you keep pretending to be something you're not?"

"I..."

How did Tsuna know his smile was fake?

"Then again I guess that it's a reflex, especially when you've somehow managed to surround yourself with useless idiots who are all too ready to shove the responsibility of winning the championship on your shoulders and skive off practice simply because you have actual talent."

Takeshi stared at him. A weird sort of hopeful feeling came into him and he slumped a bit. The fake smile was gone, replaced with a tired, miserable expression.

"How?" he asked.

How did Tsuna of all people know his smile was a fake? That he was absolutely miserable inside?

"You're not the only one hiding their true self, though admittedly my reasons are a bit more...extreme... than yours are. It hurts, doesn't it, putting up a fake exterior and being around people who are so caught up in themselves that they don't even bother to look underneath to see the real person behind the mask."

Takeshi nodded absently.

"Want to be friends?" asked the other boy.

Takeshi thought back on what little he knew of the biggest outcast in school. Tsuna didn't really belong to any 'cliques' and had never shown an iota of interest in him as "Takeshi Yamamoto, Star Baseball Ace". And somehow the smaller boy had managed to worm himself into Hibari's social circle despite the fact that Hibari hated being around others.

For the first time in a long time, Takeshi had a glimmer of hope that he might have an actual friend who saw him, and not the "baseball star".

"Yeah, I'd like that," said Takeshi with a rueful smile.

* * *

G was struggling very, very hard not to laugh at the _look_ on Giotto's face when Tsukiyo came to visit armed with books. He had heard from Alaude that she had stumbled upon their 'alone time' or the beginnings of one, but he hadn't believed it when the Cloud had said she was completely unfazed by the sight or the fact that Giotto liked his Cloud best.

Giotto cracked one open and almost immediately flung the book away with a look of horrified dismay on his face. Knuckle had tentatively opened it and a fierce blush spread across his as he stared at the pictures within in shock.

"I told you it wasn't that big a deal, and maybe this will give Alaude some ideas for you to play around with," said Tsukiyo with a straight face.

The fact Alaude did have a speculative look on his face (once he got over the disbelief she hadn't been kidding about being okay with their relationship, however hidden) did not bode well for Giotto.

G was more focused on breathing since he was too busy laughing his ass off.

"Why are they all in English?" asked Alaude.

"I wasn't sure if you knew how to read kanji, so I looked for the translated copies," she said immediately. "That and I don't know if they have them in Italian."

Her mother was too ashamed at perpetually forgetting her daughter's birthday that she hadn't asked why she needed the credit card or what her daughter had bought so long as it wasn't illegal.

When she did catch a good look at the reading material she would later shrug it off as her 'son' being "at that age" and wanting an idea of what to do if "Tsuna" wanted to experiment with Takeshi or Kyouya later.

That being said, Tsukiyo had been more than happy to loan Takeshi a few copies since he was thoroughly sick of fangirls and was a bit leery of any of his 'friends' catching him checking out their ass.

"No... where did my innocent little Kiyo-chan go?" bemoaned Giotto in dismay.

"Ieyasu-nii, anyone who tells you that women aren't as perverted as men is lying to you. We just hide it better. If you don't believe me try listening to girl talk between good friends and I guarantee you'll come out rather _enlightened_."

That set G off again.

"I think this would be more to your tastes, Knuckle," said Tsukiyo, handing over a familiar book.

Knuckle smiled brightly, having recovered from his shock when he realized what she had in her hands.

"Bless you, Kiyo-chan. I was most distraught when the leak in the roof ruined my copy," said Knuckle sincerely, holding the bible in his hands like it was a precious gift.

Tsukiyo smiled at him. She might not practice the same faith but she could respect his own.

She knew books in this time were pretty hard to come by and that Alaude was staying close to 'home' for a while so Knuckle would have been without his book for some time. Getting a new copy wasn't really a hardship and she knew he would appreciate it even if there had been a few corrections made.

Right now though she was going to tease the hell out of Ieyasu since Alaude was almost unflappable.

Giotto would get very, very drunk at the fact his "little kitten" wasn't nearly as innocent as he had assumed and knew far too much about a subject that was best discussed in private. Worse, it had given Alaude _ideas_.

"That was hilarious," said G happily.

"Did you see how red his face got?" cackled Tsukiyo. She had come a long way from the lonely, skittish girl she had been.

G snickered.

"Knuckle was just as bad!" he said with a laugh.

* * *

"I can't take it anymore. Fon-san, would you be offended if I hugged you?" asked Tsukiyo seriously.

"Since you asked politely first, I do not mind," said Fon amused. He hated it when people just assumed he would be okay with being hugged because of how "cute" he was.

Tsukiyo squealed and happily hugged him.

"Do you mind if I ask why you allow the other students to believe you are a boy?"

"Long story short I was twelve and made the mistake of looking up what the other parents and my classmates were calling my mother... I hit the wrong link and found out by accident how dangerous it was to be female and a complete outcast with several known bullies. It was safer to let everyone assume I was a boy because the most I would have to deal with is being shoved or tripped, since Kyouya deals with anyone who tries something worse."

Fon winced with sympathy. Just from that alone he could guess what word she looked up, and the sort of links she found by mistake at such a tender age.

Her mouth twitched up into an evil grin.

"Of course that didn't stop me from poking fun at Ieyasu-nii's relationship with his secret boyfriend. The look on his face when he saw the books I handed him was hilarious."

"I am very curious about this 'Ieyasu' person you speak of so fondly. I assume it was his Cloud that you had write down some useful advice for Kyouya?" said Fon.

"Do you believe in time travel?"

"The Bovino have successfully made a device that allows one to switch with their future selves in ten years, so yes."

Tsukiyo pulled out her phone, and with a few swipes pulled up a picture.

"This is Ieyasu-nii behind me, and these are his Guardians."

Fon took _one_ look at the picture and understood the time travel comment.

"Ah. You've found a way into the past to meet your possible ancestor and he's been the one training you."

Because if that wasn't the Vongola Primo, Fon would give up spicy foods forever. It also explained the fact she spoke in an older variant of Italian and French.

"A pity I cannot speak with this Ieyasu or Alaude. I'm sure it would be enlightening to say the least," said Fon.

"Why can't you? I mean I've never tried taking anyone _with_ me through the well."

Fon perked up at that. He didn't mind being carried to the well that Tsukiyo had claimed as her sanctuary.

Without even a second's hesitation, Tsukiyo jumped down into the well, still holding Fon and his pet monkey Lichi.

Fon's pacifier glowed brightly as he felt a strange sensation overcome him...he could definitely feel _something_ happening and held on tightly to the girl by instinct. He knew that he had to do it or this wouldn't work. Or worse, one of them would get stuck.

With a bit of a thump, he found himself staring at his _adult_ hands on top of Tsukiyo. The pacifier thumped against his chest, looking a very faded red.

"What just happened?" she asked, looking at him in shock.

He looked like an older, long-haired Kyouya who wore a lot of red and had kind, if tired eyes.

"I believe...that there were a few side effects of traveling through the well together," he said after a moment. He easily helped her up and noticed the rope hanging on the side.

"Ieyasu-nii put that there so I could climb up easier. The vines were starting to pull away from the sides."

Tsukiyo easily grabbed the rope and climbed up with the ease of long practice. Fon followed her without a second thought.

It took Fon a second to realize that the noise he heard was someone rushing up to meet them.

"Kiyo-chan!" said Giotto, tackling her in a hug.

"Ieyasu-nii!" she replied, hugging him back.

Giotto finally took note of the man next to her, looking openly amused. He stared in shock.

"...Kiyo-chan, why do you have an Asian Alaude with a braid with you?"

"Ieyasu-nii, this is Fon. Fon, this is Ieyasu-nii."

" _Hello Giotto,"_ said Fon with far too much amusement in modern Italian with a polite bow.

Giotto froze at that.

Tsukiyo gave Fon an odd look.

If Giotto's reaction was funny, the raised eyebrow from Alaude upon seeing Fon was _hilarious_. Mostly because it was as close to a shout as Alaude got.

Asari's wife took Tsukiyo away to help with the cooking, which she rather enjoyed.

"So... what's the state of the Vongola now?" asked Giotto with open interest. Because he could tell right off that Fon was an experienced Flame user.

"I don't have a lot of specific details, but I do have general information. If you want inside information I'd have to ask my friend Reborn, which would be a headache since he'd want to know why," said Fon. "As for the Vongola... it went from a supposedly vigilante group almost straight into one of the bloodiest mafia famiglias in history and is currently at _the_ top when it comes to power and influence, followed closely by the Giglio Nero and Gesso famiglias. The territory for the main portion of the family is in Italy's capital."

"What of CEDEF?" asked Alaude.

Fon's expression was _very_ telling.

"It went from being Vongola's best source of intelligence and investigation into a complete joke," he informed the man rather bluntly. "The one who runs it, who coincidentally is Tsukiyo's father, is also the External Adviser. The man is a fool of the highest order and has almost single-handedly ruined the group, were it not for the efforts of a few competent employees."

Alaude's face was twitching, a sure sign of his fury at hearing that news.

"Wait... you said her father is the head of CEDEF _and_ the External Adviser," said Giotto.

Fon nodded.

"That can't be right. I specifically stated in the laws I set down before I retired here that the External Adviser cannot hold any position except for that. If he's running CEDEF _and_ acting as the Adviser then it creates a strong conflict of interest," said Giotto frowning.

Fon blinked, before an evil grin almost formed.

"Really now... maybe if Vongola Nono had bothered to actually _learn_ the laws that had been set down by those before him then the Vongola wouldn't be a complete mess. He's already lost two sons and has alienated the head of the Vongola's personal assassination group."

"The _what_?!" squawked Giotto.

"The Vongola has a group of assassins. They're called the Varia."

Giotto looked furious hearing that. From the way Fon spoke it was clear that the group he had formed to _help_ people was now no better than the bastards they had fought against!

"Everything alright in here?" Tsukiyo called out.

"Just out of curiosity mind you, have you ever heard of a technique that can freeze Flames? As in turn them into a solid block of almost unmeltable ice?" asked Fon.

If Giotto was pissed hearing about what happened to the group he had formed, it was _nothing_ compared to his expression hearing Fon even inquire about a technique he had thought was their little secret.

"Is this a personal inquiry, or have you seen it used on someone and they're still frozen?" he asked slowly, trying to reign in his temper.

"More of the second. From what I was told by a friend, the Varia's Sky confronted Nono about a personal issue and was 'put on ice' in their words. I had to pay that miser good money to find out what they meant by that, but apparently Nono has turned his fourth son into a literal ice cube for attempting to clear a large number of rats from the Vongola, and he spun it off as the boy attempting a coup against him."

Giotto's face was furious and his eyebrows were twitching rampantly. It was rather entertaining in a way.

"G, remind me to step up Kiyo-chan's Flame training. I want her to be as prepared as possible for when she completely destroys the Vongola and if possible rebuilds it from the ground up."

Considering the amount of pissed off Sky Flame coming off Giotto at the moment, he was dead serious about that.

Like hell was he going to let his legacy continue to be tainted by idiots who had turned into the very thing he had tried to stop!


	6. Chapter 6

"Mu. Time is money Fon. Do not waste mine," said Viper crossly.

"I have information that might be able to get Nono and Iemitsu in a _lot_ of trouble and possibly give your boss a chance to get out of the ice. If that doesn't work, I have a Sky who would be willing to help free him, no questions asked."

"What's in it for you?" said Viper suspiciously.

"Iemitsu has indirectly pissed me off with his inaction and the Sky in question is also the one who's managed to harmonize with my grandson," said Fon.

"Mu. What's the information?" asked Viper.

"Are you aware that by the Vongola's own laws that the External Adviser cannot hold any post save for adviser, as it would create a conflict of interest?" said Fon.

"What."

"Iemitsu is violating Vongola law as set down by the Primo, as is Nono because he was the one to appoint the fool to both of his posts. Which means that if said information were to _happen_ to reach the ears of the allies along with hints of what really happened to Xanxus and why, it might force Nono to release him to save face and make Iemitsu step down from one of his positions. Federico would be next to useless as Decimo and better served elsewhere."

Viper stared at him, before a smirk appeared. They almost felt the urge to cackle.

This information was worth Fon's original weight in gold!

"I would recommend finding the original laws so that you can cite the source and prove you're not making it up," said Fon.

"Naturally, they won't believe us otherwise," said Viper. They were practically giddy... the Ninth generation had pissed them off enough and this was a very amusing way to strike a blow against them that they would find almost impossible to counter for. By their own actions they were going against laws set by the Primo!

This might be the perfect chance to free their boss and get their Sky back.

* * *

Tsukiyo didn't know _what_ Fon told Ieyasu, but he had started to train her seriously in how to use her flames. To be more specific, he had decided to switch off using her Hyper Dying Will mode and focus more on a technique he called the 'Zero Point Breakthrough'.

Which was basically all about reaching a 'null' state with her flames to the point it allowed her to create _ice_ out of _fire_. It was exhausting, having to switch between Hyper Dying Will mode back to the 'standby' phase until she was able to reach the 'ice' stage.

Giotto was therefor very surprised and rather pleased when she was able to not only pick up on it after a month of intense training on the weekends, but _improve_ on the attack to the point she could absorb his Flames and use them against him.

However it was what Giotto gave her for her fifteenth birthday that had her smiling.

The history books and the Vongola will all say that Giotto split the Vongola rings to keep the power contained.

That was a lie. Giotto managed to track down Talbot and make a second copy of the true Vongola rings that came with their own back door, except he never told his cousin about it. Daemon had no idea that Talbot had confiscated the Mist ring he held and switched it with the new 'copy' ring and gave the real one to Giotto. Lampo hadn't cared one way or another as he stayed in Italy with his family...but he was still Giotto's lightning Guardian.

Giotto had contacted Talbot for a third time...and commissioned something that was both practical and acceptable for a young woman to carry. And, as an added benefit allowed her to use her Flames without her gloves, at least until he thought she was ready to handle them.

After all, his gloves were attached to the original rings and he did _not_ want the idiots currently in charge of the Vongola to learn she had them. Especially since she didn't have even half of her Guardians yet.

Tsukiyo held the watch/music box in her hands with a wide smile on her face that brightened the room.

Though the second she heard the song playing inside she had to punch her brother in the arm.

"I knew letting you play around with my phone was going to haunt me. Why did you pick the 'Song of Healing' from _Tangled_?" she asked.

Giotto mumbled something under his breath.

"What was that?"

"It was the only one that suited you _and_ fit the space available. Talbot had to borrow the odd device you left here in order to get it made, but as long as it's wound the song will play when the watch opens. It's also nearly indestructible."

"Well I love it. Thank you Ieyasu-nii," she said, kissing him firmly on the cheek.

It was a simple pocket watch that didn't need batteries or flames to run. You had to keep it wound and it needed to be done at least twice a month. The outside of it had an etching of a crescent moon with a branch of Sakura blossoms that looked as though the moon was overlooking a tree. The casing was made from a rust-resistant metal that could channel Flames...or hide them. The watch face itself was made from the same metal and the numbers attached were all Roman numerals. Inside the inner part of 'lid' was a picture of Tsukiyo with Giotto and the others. The chain was made of the same metal as the watch and could be clipped easily to a belt loop.

Once opened, the music part of the watch would begin to play the "Song of Healing" from the movie _Tangled_ (Giotto hadn't seen it but he had liked the song when Tsukiyo let him play around with the music app on her phone) on a loop until the watch closed. However playing it for too long would make it run slow until it was wound again.

All in all it was a very expensive gift considering the materials and not something Giotto could pay for on his own at the moment.

Oddly, Talbot had waived the idea of payment, stating he'd bill the Vongola later for it.

Giotto could only hope Ricardo didn't track him down for that and yell at him for somehow using up so much of the Vongola's funds. Considering what his cousin had done to his group, he could honestly care less if he did track him down.

(On an unrelated note, Iemitsu was hit with a truly _impressive_ bill that came straight from Talbot who refused to elaborate on what it was for, only that the debt owed by his ancestor had given the ring-smith quite a bit of incentive to tack on several fees and fines for waiting to so long to pay up for a simple commissioned piece. Viper, when they found out the full story, would deny losing their cool and laughing their ass off for several straight hours or snickering evilly whenever they even thought of Iemitsu after that.)

* * *

Tsukiyo happily returned to her own time...only to be completely caught off guard by the fact Kyouya more or less hijacked her and took her straight to TakeSushi.

"I...what?" she said surprised.

"You really didn't think we'd leave you all alone on your birthday did you?" grinned Takeshi.

"How did you know..."

"Kyouya," said Takeshi, as if it were obvious. "That and Tatsuya confirmed it."

"Happy birthday, Tsu-nee!" said her happy little brother. The eight year old was just glad that his sister finally had someone to remember her birthday properly. Once again their mother had forgotten it.

If her smile at the minor party Ieyasu and his friends always had was bright, this one was significantly brighter.

Of course the fun she had at the party was almost replaced with embarrassment when Takeshi tripped and landed almost on top of her, with his lips against hers.

Takeshi blinked as his dad cracked up.

"Tsuna... you're a girl?"

Tsuyoshi laughed even harder at the baffled tone in his son's voice.

"It's Tsukiyo, actually. And there's a very specific reason I keep my gender quiet," she replied, face red from blushing.

That was a hell of a way to lose her first kiss.

Kyouya growled, and to the open amusement of a laughing Fon and Tsuyoshi, placed a possessive kiss on her lips, causing her blush to completely take over her face.

"Mine."

"Tsu-nee has two boyfriends!" said Tatsuya grinning, which only set Fon and Tsuyoshi off _again_.

"They're not my boyfriends!" she said quickly.

Kyouya's possessive growl indicated otherwise, either that or he was being really territorial at the moment.

Fon was highly amused for multiple reasons...and also dancing in his head because if this developed any further he was likely to have great-grandchildren to spoil sometime in the future.

He was very much a sucker for kids.

That being said Fon was the one to quietly enlighten Takeshi and his father as to why Tsukiyo went by the name "Tsuna" and hid her actual gender. He was rather pleased by the protective spark in the younger Rain's eyes, even if he wasn't Active just yet.

Tsukiyo had literally saved him from his own crippling depression. She saw the person underneath the mask he used every day and accepted him. She was completely unafraid of the darkness in his soul that created the dark thoughts that kept creeping in his head after a really bad day.

So hearing the slightly edited version of why she pretended to be a boy really pissed him off. Especially since he could openly admit to himself that she did have a valid reason for having that fear, considering how much of a loner she was until recently.

On the plus side, Fon was more than happy to trade numbers and share information...within limits. Nothing too sensitive, but general knowledge was acceptable.

* * *

Red eyes opened and they were pissed. For all of ten seconds, before he registered who was in front of him.

"Rico?"

"Hey little brother. When your Mist sets out to completely make someone's life miserable they don't mess around..." said Federico nervously.

He was wearing the patch that stated in no uncertain terms he was the head of CEDEF.

"What the fuck happened while I was out?" demanded Xanxus.

"Um... long story short Nono and Iemitsu have been breaking more than a few of the original laws set by the Primo because no one has bothered to actually read them? Hell, Nonna shouldn't have had to fight both her brothers to take the Sky ring, according to what we found."

Xanxus tried to move. He was still firmly stuck.

"I was only able to melt the part around your head. Viper has a lead on a potential Sky who can do the whole thing, but Fon is being unusually cagey about who it is. They're definitely Vongola though."

Xanxus glared at him.

"So why are you now CEDEF?"

Federico winced.

"Did you know that according to the Primo's own laws, the External Adviser is _not_ allowed to have any post save for that of the Adviser?"

Xanxus stared.

"Apparently when Nono gave Iemitsu both positions to insure he didn't try to stake his own claim in Vongola succession he violated our own laws and someone told Fon about it, who then informed Viper. As a result... well I've been spending the past three months untangling CEDEF since Talbot showed up with a very large bill and told me the rings would only retaliate if I attempted to put them on. Apparently there's another heir that the ghost of the previous Dons like better, and we've been attempting to track down who it is."

"...Why would Talbot come armed with a bill?"

"Apparently the Primo commissioned some sort of special watch for his 'little sister' that came equipped with a looped music box and was made with entirely Flame-treated metal. You know how much that stuff costs, and since Ricardo refused to pay the bill Talbot waited until a descendant of the Primo was part of the Vongola before he decided to spring it on us again. The thing is, since it's been several hundred years there's been all sorts of fines and overdue fees tacked on the bill, and he's made it clear that Nono can't pay up the bill since Ricardo refused to pay it the first time."

Xanxus' jaw gaped.

"Are you telling me that Iemitsu has to pay Talbot an enormous amount of money for something the Primo did? And that old fucker can't bail him out?"

"Mammon hasn't stopped laughing since they were there when the bill was presented, and they still cackle every time someone brings up Iemitsu."

Xanxus began to shake...before a deep belly aching laugh erupted from him. He could only imagine how bad Iemitsu was hit. That metal was fucking expensive and Talbot didn't come cheap.

That was just the sort of thing he needed to snap him out of his mindless rage.

Not only was someone knocking Iemitsu down several pegs, but the ass would have a good chunk of his savings taken out because of the Primo!

"Wait... the Primo had a sister?"

"Fon seemed openly amused when it was mentioned, and I'm pretty sure he knows more than we do on the matter."


	7. Chapter 7

Tsukiyo only had to hear the words "Iemitsu is coming home for a visit" before she promptly bundled up her younger brother and took him straight to TakeSushi.

Tsuyoshi and Takeshi only had to hear the same before they agreed to play "keep away" with the happy kid who saw Takeshi as an older brother. Considering some of the things they heard about Iemitsu's behavior (and quite a bit of it was privately confirmed by Fon via Lal and Viper) there was no way in _hell_ he was going near the kids. It was already abundantly clear there was something wrong with Nana, since her general apathy towards her own children got _worse_ the second she heard Iemitsu was coming.

It was as if he had her under thrall or something.

Tsukiyo had considered hiding in the past, but she had been told by G that Ieyasu and Alaude had taken her advice and were currently courting a pair of nice young women who were very discreet and more than happy to keep their silence about Alaude and Ieyasu's relationship.

They had absolutely no problem with bearing their heirs in exchange for the security of having a 'husband' during a time when bastards were heavily frowned upon. Even better, they had the peace of mind knowing that their new 'husbands' would care for their children as if they were their own, no questions asked.

It was a better deal than they could have gotten being single mothers in feudal Japan.

Which meant she was more or less being politely asked to stay away to avoid any potential problems, at least for now.

Kyouya solved that particular dilemma with a very simple solution.

He kidnapped her and brought her to the Hibari manor where an overly amused Fon was already waiting.

"Want to spend a week learning advanced martial arts?" asked Fon chuckling at his grandson's behavior. "Of course you'll have to put up with my apprentice."

The little girl bowed politely to Tsukiyo who smiled at her...before promptly cuddling with her once Fon gave a slight nod.

"Am I cleared for a week of no school?" asked Tsukiyo to Kyouya.

"Keep him away and I'll write it off as an excused absence... provided you spar with me when I deliver your homework."

"Deal."

Kyouya looked rather pleased. Not only would Fon be staying far, far away from him, but the fierce Omnivore that killed his boredom by 'playing' with him and didn't bitch about the bruises after would get even stronger. All for the price of excused absence until the fake carnivore left his territory and protection of her litter mate.

"However..."

Kyouya looked at the Omnivore with confusion.

"You have to let me hug you after and no complaining."

Fon's amusement doubled at the blush on Kyouya's cheeks.

Whenever Tsukiyo managed to trick Kyouya into what could only be called a 'cuddle session', Kyouya _always_ ended up with his head in her lap with her hands running through his hair laced with traces of Sky Flames. And he would purr, or something very close to it. It was not only adorable, it gave Fon _ideas_.

Kyouya tried very, very hard to strangle Fon the last time his grandfather left books...among other things...in his apartment that made it clear what he thought of their behavior. Fon clearly hoped for great grandchildren in the near future from the two.

Though it was nothing compared to how annoyed Kyouya was when he found Fon stretched out like a cat in _his_ Sky's lap, happily basking in her Flames while napping.

They hadn't _quite_ harmonized, but Fon would admit to a potential bond if asked. It was closer than the bond he had with Luce, at any rate.

(Fon had high hopes that prolonged exposure to Tsukiyo when Flames were involved might allow a bond to snap naturally into place. She was the first Sky he could openly admit to respecting in a very long time...never mind have the potential to match his power levels.)

* * *

 _Third POV_

Iemitsu came 'home' to Namimori...only to find himself persona non grata when it came to his children.

Tatsuya openly bolted towards an almost Active Rain the second he saw his father, and the older teen had a baseball bat within easy reach. One look at the teen's eyes said volumes of what he would do if Iemitsu tried to come near his son.

Those were eyes he was all too familiar with, which really begged the question of why the hell Tatsuya felt _safe_ with a natural born hit man. The fact _his_ son then greeted the sushi chef and former hit man as if the man were his father and not Iemitsu rankled. The older teen was treated like an older brother as if it only natural.

Iemitsu had a bad feeling that this tied in to why his eldest was missing. He had yet to see any sign of Tsu-kun since his arrival and Nana had blithely informed him of a 'camping trip' with one of "Tsu-kun's new friends'!

The second he heard who one of them was, he began to fear that the seal had somehow either failed or was beginning to crack, because he recognized the name Hibari Kyouya as a particularly violent Cloud. One who was highly territorial and not likely to 'crowd' with someone like his eldest.

Unless of course the seal somehow failed and Tsu-kun had managed to snag the vicious Cloud as their Guardian. Which meant they would be a magnet for all sorts of trouble from the underworld once it got out.

Iemitsu fully planned to track down his eldest to make sure the seal still held...only to be distracted by his wife.

* * *

"Look out!"

Tsukiyo augmented her natural speed and tackled another girl out of the road after she realized the other female didn't see the truck speeding towards the intersection.

It was a very near miss, and she was halfway to scolding the other girl for not looking first...except she realized that the smaller girl was almost certainly abused.

Tsukiyo knew better than anyone what those bruises were. The fact the girl was much skinnier and barely looked twelve meant she wasn't eating enough and her timid nature was all too familiar.

She didn't give the other girl a chance to protest... she dragged her straight to her house and pulled out a _very_ well used first aid kit.

The timid girl calmly stayed still as Tsukiyo treated her injuries without a word.

"What's your name?"

"N-N-Nagi," she said quietly, stumbling over her name. No one had ever been _this_ kind to her before or so gentle.

"My name is Tsukiyo Sawada, but my friends occasionally call me Kiyo. Or Tsuna, if we're out in public."

Tsukiyo's eyes glowed amber as she calmly and deliberately pulled the younger girl into a hug. She could feel her Sky charisma kick in, because Nagi quietly cried in her arms with relief.

"Do you want to stay here?" she asked gently.

"C-can I?" asked Nagi with hope.

"Mama won't care and Tatsuya likes it when I bring friends. Having another big sister would make his day, I think," said Tsukiyo firmly. Then her face turned slightly sheepish. "Besides, it would be nice to have a female friend around to share things with. Don't get me wrong, Takeshi and Kyouya are nice and all..."

"But they wouldn't handle girl talk," said Nagi, shyly.

"You should have seen Ieyasu-nii's reaction when I busted him and his friend Alaude making out!" giggled Tsukiyo. "Ieyasu-nii was horrified and tried to explain what they were doing, only to look at me with disbelief when I came back a month later with books to help them out in their relationship. Apparently he was really thrown by the fact I didn't care that he likes guys as much as girls."

Nagi giggled.

"Then he started whining about how his 'innocent little Kiyo-chan' has been corrupted. You should have _seen_ the look on his face when I calmly told him that girls are just as perverted as boys, we just hide it better."

Nagi's smile was warm and her laughter was very pleasant to hear.

Nagi couldn't remember the last time she laughed so much.

She never wanted this to end.

Then, much to her shock (and the fact Tsukiyo was _not_ letting her return to a clearly abusive home) it didn't.

She didn't really mind ditching her old name behind, or cheerfully getting a new hair style. It wasn't like her mother would recognize the smiling, somewhat happy girl with the timid and meek Nagi after all.

She rather liked the name Chrome Dokuro.

* * *

Green eyes stared in shocked disbelief at amber colored ones.

"What on earth?!"

"You must be Lampo, right?" she asked cheerfully.

 _"A female Giotto... I would swear that jerk Daemon is messing with me..."_ muttered Lampo in Italian.

She tilted her head before evilly asking in the same language _"Isn't Daemon the one who's hair looks like a melon?"_

Lampo looked at her in shock, before grinning.

" _Well that proves you're not one of his at least!"_ he said laughing.

Daemon _hated_ it whenever someone compared his hair style to a melon. He'd never make an illusion who'd ask that question.

Lampo then looked sheepish.

" _Um... do you know where Giotto and the others are?"_

" _If you mean Ieyasu-nii, I can take you to the house. Did you get lost by accident from the port?"_

He nodded.

He followed her without a second thought, and was relieved when he spotted Knuckle.

Knuckle took one look at him and beamed widely.

Lampo almost broke down in relief.

 _A short time later..._

Giotto looked upset hearing that Lampo had to flee Italy and leave his son with his second cousins just to protect him. His wife had been killed by people attempting to force Lampo to tell them where Giotto and the others were, so he had gone to the only place he could think of where he had allies.

Unfortunately his Japanese was _really_ rusty and thus he ended up horribly lost once he left the docks.

It took Lampo several moments to realize that he was being hugged by the female Giotto copy.

" _I'm sorry you had to give up your son to protect him,"_ she said honestly. _"At least you had a very good reason to do it...better for him to be alive and never see you again than dead."_

Lampo stared at her for several moments, before it really sank in he'd never see his son again. Once it hit him, it hit _hard_ and he started crying. It wasn't the freaked out tears he was used to...it was one of loss.

Tsukiyo hugged him to her and rubbed his back while he let it all out.

Once he did, he felt slightly better. It would take several days with his Sky before he would even begin to feel whole.

" _So who is she? I thought Giotto's parents died when he was a kid?"_ asked Lampo.

Tsukiyo grinned.

" _I'm Ieyasu's great great great-grandchild. But we prefer sister because it's easier to explain,"_ she said cheerfully.

" _Grandchild?!"_

Giotto rubbed his neck.

" _You know that well she found you at?"_

Lampo nodded.

" _Asari's grandfather had it dug and told him it would prove useful for later, even if it had no water. Turns out that the wood they used to build the sides at the top has some special properties that allow those with the right affinity to travel through time. And well... it seems that Kiyo-chan is one of them."_

" _Actually it seems I'm not the only one who can do it. Is your wife's maiden name Higurashi by any chance?"_ asked Tsukiyo. Giotto nodded. _"Well it seems at some point the two bloodlines merged into one, because I have a few cousins in Tokyo who have an 'Ieyasu Sawada' in their bloodline."_

She had spent the better part of a week researching her grandmother, only to find out she had a few cousins. She planned to visit the Higurashi shrine at some point to say hi and scare the other girl who was time traveling.

" _So when did you get married?"_ asked Lampo to Giotto, who rubbed the back of his neck nervously.

" _Well you know how Alaude and I are closer than the others?"_

Lampo nodded. It wasn't that big a secret that Alaude and Giotto liked each other as more than brothers. It just wasn't talked about since they were discreet.

" _Well Kiyo-chan made a rather useful suggestion about how to hide it better without drawing suspicion."_

" _I told him to find a girl already in the family way willing to keep her silence about the fact he's in love with Alaude in exchange for the security of having a 'father' for her child. It allows her to save face while at the same time providing a strong cover for them and means he'll have someone to produce his heirs with,"_ deadpanned Tsukiyo. Lampo choked. _"Considering the Japanese community is a bit more unfriendly to unwed mothers who didn't protect their virtue as well as they should have than the Catholics... no offense Knuckle... it was a better deal than most could have hoped for."_

" _She's rather blunt isn't she?"_ asked Lampo.

" _You're talking to the girl who gave Ieyasu and Alaude plenty of 'new' material to work with when it comes to the bedroom between two guys. I have pictures of Ieyasu and Knuckle's expressions when they realized what they were looking at, since G was too busy laughing his ass off and Alaude was reading it."_

Lampo stared at her before an evil grin came onto his face. It was official. Daemon would have loved her for that stunt alone. He was always poking fun at their relationship when he could get away with it.

He gave her puppy dog eyes and grinned at the pictures she promptly shared.


	8. Chapter 8

"Why. Do. They. Live. Up. So. Many. Stairs..." whined Tsukiyo.

"Shut up and walk, Tsu-nee," complained Tatsuya who was suffering right up there with her.

Nana had happily allowed them to take a few days off to visit their cousins. Then again they were going armed with an escort...namely Hibari who had been promised a proper fight if he agreed to come with them. Fon was busy training I-Pin at the moment, so was unavailable.

Finally they reached the top...only to see someone wearing period clothing with long silver hair, golden eyes and a cap.

"..."

"Who the hell are you three?" snarled the cosplayer.

Except Tsukiyo had become something of an expert at telling the difference between a recreated period outfit and the real thing.

And she had _seen_ someone who looked a _lot_ like this guy before some time ago when she was wandering with Ieyasu to visit another village one week. He was older and had a little human girl with him, but there was a resemblance.

"...Are you by any chance related to a guy named Sesshomaru?" she asked slowly.

The 'cosplayer' twitched and almost went for his sword. Hibari's eyes gleamed at the potential challenge.

"Inuyasha, SIT!"

The cosplayer went flat on the ground from an enchanted necklace around his neck, revealing two very furry ears on his head.

"I'm sorry about that. You know Sesshomaru?" asked a girl wearing a sailor fuku. Hibari looked disappointed.

"Ran into him once, with his adopted daughter. I don't care what he might say otherwise, demons don't allow human children to be part of their pack unless they consider them family. Are you Kagome?"

Kagome Higurashi blinked.

"How do you know my name?"

"Tsukiyo Sawada, and this is my brother Tatsuya. The grumpy panther next to me is a friend. I'm your cousin once removed," said Tsukiyo. "As for how I know Sesshomaru... well, it seems time traveling runs in the family."

Kagome wasn't the only one gaping. Inuyasha, if that was the half-demon's name, stared too.

Hibari... was just happy she compared him to a superior carnivore instead of a damn house cat.

"I think we need to sit down and talk about this properly," said Kagome after a moment.

Spotting the younger cousin, Souta, Tsukiyo grinned.

"I came armed with video games to bond with."

Souta and Tatsuya shared a look.

"Best. Sister. Ever," said Tatsuya, who grinned upon seeing what she had. Souta nodded in agreement, eyes glued to the game that he fortunately had a console for.

The two younger boys suitably distracted, Kagome set out some tea while Inuyasha tried to stare down Hibari.

"So...time travel?"

"There's another well made from the tree of ages in Namimori. I fell into it and found myself in the feudal era. Took me a few hours to figure out how it worked and that was mostly because I was captured by idiot bandits due to my resemblance to our grandfather. Or great great grandfather in your case. He was very shocked meeting me, because I'm almost a dead ringer for him."

She pulled out her phone.

"Fortunately Ieyasu-nii isn't one of those fools who believes cameras steal your soul," she said amused.

Kagome had to blink, before eagerly scrolling through pictures.

"Our grandfather isn't Japanese?"

"He's Italian, actually. And it's mostly my fault we're related... you see the blond with blue eyes standing at the edge?" asked Tsukiyo. Kagome nodded. "The two of them are still 'in the closet', since the time period wasn't exactly _nice_ to people who didn't like 'acceptable' bed partners."

Kagome took a moment to process that for a moment, before she got it.

"Wait... if he likes the other guy then how..."

"I told him that if he wanted to keep that fact quiet and not stir up rumors, considering the time period, then to find a girl already pregnant who would be willing to keep her mouth shut in exchange for a husband who would take care of her and her child. Ieyasu-nii agreed it was a good idea, since he recently married our grandmother. She'll have a few heirs to keep people quiet in exchange for a bit of silence on his actual preferences... same for Alaude who married another woman for the same reason. From what I can tell your line is either an off-shoot of the first child or from the second son... I wasn't able to find any records to figure out which."

Kagome mulled over this particular bit of family history, before dragging her grandfather in.

He brought out a family scroll that had the previous generations until they hit "Ieyasu Sawada".

Sure enough, there he was next to the Higurashi name. Apparently Kagome was descended from the third child, which made them blood cousins. The first child died without any heirs during one of the many conflicts during the Warring States era...likely trying to find his birth father, if one were to be honest.

"So you said that there's another well in Namimori?" asked Kagome.

"I can give you the village name. Not sure if you could use it to go back and forth, but if you could then we could visit," said Tsukiyo hopefully. "Plus you get to meet Ieyasu-nii and the others. They already had some rather amusing reactions because I looked so much like him, so meeting his other granddaughter would be hilarious."

"I know the feeling," commiserated Kagome. "I look like _his_ ex-girlfriend, who died fifty years by that time period. Worse, some idiot managed to resurrect her so now we have to deal with that mess."

"Ouch," said Tsukiyo with sympathy. "Look on the bright side... at least now you have someone to share the headaches of time travel and have girl talk without hiding the fact you go between time periods through a well."

Kagome could have cried with relief, it was that bad. Having to hide the truth was a total nightmare, especially on her grades. So having someone to commiserate with made her life a little bit easier.

So much so that she didn't hesitate to go into the well with Tsukiyo while Hibari kept an eye on the two boys.

Kagome had a rather wide smile.

"Kagome, you're back early," noted Sango.

"And who's this lovely lady?" asked Miroku.

"Touch me and I'll demonstrate exactly how much I know about causing pain in perverts," growled Tsukiyo. "This is your only warning and I will not hesitate."

Sango liked her immediately. Her grin was positively vicious.

"Tell me more."

"Is it alright if I hold your cat?" asked Tsukiyo hopefully. The nekomata was beyond adorable.

Sango nodded, and Kirara was happily purring in the other girl's arms.

Miroku, if he had heard even a _fraction_ of the things Tsukiyo was happily sharing with Sango, would have been left terrified and worried about his man bits. Especially the man bits.

The fact Tsukiyo had absolutely _no_ problem teaching Sango new ways to keep him in line was bad enough.

Eventually Kagome and Tsukiyo went back to their time period, but it was like a weight had been lifted off their shoulders now that they had someone to share their misery with.

Even if Inuyasha had to let Tsukiyo rub his ears for a few minutes. He would deny the fact she was really good at it though.

* * *

 _Two weeks later_

Giotto looked at his _other_ granddaughter with no little amount of shock and incredulity.

"You just _had_ to find your cousins," he said, pinching his nose.

"To be fair, she's been at this longer and didn't know where to look," said Tsukiyo amused. "Though this really begs the question of whether it's something in your bloodline or possibly your Flames that allows this sort of thing to happen to begin with."

"True. And it brings the question of whether I can travel as well," mused Giotto.

"Not until you start producing nieces and nephews for me to potentially spoil," said Tsukiyo without hesitation. "I'm still baffled how I managed to bring Fon with me, since we haven't been able to do it twice."

Giotto pouted.

"I can't believe you call him Ieyasu-nii," said Kagome amused.

"Would you believe me if I showed up and called myself his great grandchild, when we look like siblings?" deadpanned Tsukiyo.

"Point," conceded Kagome. "How did you manage to get a Catholic priest to be tolerated in this time period anyway?"

"Compared the Western god to a Buddha mixed with a very diversified Kami on the same level as Amaterasu and told him to tone down the sermons. He's mostly treated like a Buddhist monk now," said Tsukiyo. "Once you know how the general populous reacts, the rest is easy. Add a bit of hair dye and most people learn to ignore the fact that Ieyasu and the others are technically foreigners. If it wasn't for Asari-san being so well respected in the area, they'd be lucky to have been able to stay this long before they were 'politely' asked to leave in a permanent fashion."

Kagome blinked, before nodding.

"Good point. They were about ready to lynch me the first time I traveled to this period simply because I was wearing my school uniform and was caught in Inuyasha's forest. They openly thought me a demon until the resident miko realized I looked way too much like her dead sister to be a coincidence."

"Wait... you're the girl who broke the Shikon no Tama?!" said Giotto incredulous. Kagome flushed at that. "How?"

"How do you even know about that?"

"I travel a lot and demons are more inclined to talk to the 'gaijin' than the locals until they get used to me. Besides, Sesshomaru drops Rin off every so often so he can get his own thing done while knowing we're not exactly inclined to take her away from him because he's a demon," shrugged Giotto. He eyed Inuyasha. "And while he's not really fond of you he does have a little bit of respect for the fact you've survived this long with minimal to no help. He just finds you irritating because you're still a kid in his opinion."

Inuyasha blinked at that.

"He does?" said Tsukiyo.

"He likes the fact we're respectful without running for the first exorcist we can find the second he reveals his less than human nature. In all honesty the Vindice scare the hell out of me more... he's just an overgrown dog with supernatural powers," shrugged Giotto. "Not that I'll ever say that to his face, of course. I like having it attached to the rest of me and not melted."

Because seriously if those claws of his weren't the demon equivalent of Storm flames he'd eat his hat.

That being said, Kagome and Tsukiyo were hardly the only ones to coo at the adorable baby that Giotto's wife had given birth to a couple of months ago. Sango was right there with them.

* * *

"Tsu-kun! Guess what I found in the mailbox!" said Nana smiling.

Tsukiyo took one look at the flier and immediately knew it was a total set up. Her paranoia was high as she kept an eye out for anyone suspicious in the area. A few times she almost caught a hint of something black at the edge of her vision, along with the familiar feel of a certain curse.

So much so that she was texting Fon during lunch about any particular news that had hit the mafia grapevine recently.

 _Reborn (Sun Arcobaleno) sent by Vongola Nono to train last acceptable heir to the rings to take over as Vongola Decimo. ~Fon_

Tsukiyo blinked, before swearing quite viciously in English.

 _This Reborn wear primarily black? There's something that's been pinging at the edge of my senses for hours since Mama found suspicious flier in mailbox this morning. ~Tsuki_

 _Reborn is a fully licensed tutor. Odds are he's still operating under assumption you are clueless civilian... his last student was rather spineless until he got through with them, from what I was told. And yes, his preferred color is black, though he has a_ very _extensive cosplay closet. ~Fon_

Great. Just what she didn't need...she'd sooner see the Vongola burn to the ground and rebuild it from the ashes of what it had become than deal with that many headaches.

The fact her suspicions were confirmed when she returned from school, only to find a "toddler" wearing an all too familiar pacifier around his neck and a small chameleon on his hat did not bode well for her mellow.

Tsukiyo took one look at Reborn before sighing.

She almost regretted throwing out the entire liquor cabinet. Almost.

Nana had been so unhappy with her, except Tsukiyo had been thoroughly disgusted by the fact that Iemitsu had tried to give Tatsuya "magic water" and wanted to send a message to the ass. Namely that she wasn't about to let the jerk get her precious little brother drunk on her watch.

Reborn at least waited until they were in her room before he confronted her.

"I'm here to turn you into a mafia boss," he announced.

Where had her peaceful life gone?


	9. Chapter 9

Reborn was many things, but oblivious certainly wasn't one of them. His new student was surprised, but more exasperated than shocked at the news he was part of the Vongola.

The fact that upon seeing the family tree, he immediately went and pulled out a much more _extensive_ one that included a pair of cousins he was entirely unaware of at that point that were also descended from the Primo, at least on the Japanese side did not help.

He also found it highly suspicious that his new student shared the same room as a thirteen-year-old abused Mist with a soft Flame that was just barely Active. A teenage girl should not be so at ease with sharing a room with a teenage boy, especially since the two behaved more like siblings.

Reborn had been given the most "recent" file on his new student. It had been updated the last time Iemitsu came to visit, and should be fairly accurate.

There was nothing in it about Tsuna living with a Mist, or the fact that he was friends with a Rain Latent who was clearly a natural hit man or on good terms with Fon's grandson to the point that Tsuna was the Cloud's secretary.

However his biggest clue to Iemitsu's sheer incompetence came when he brought the potential Storm Guardian to test his new student, since he apparently had very overprotective friends.

Tsuna took _one_ look at the set up and Reborn saw something rather concerned.

Genuine _fear_.

Tsuna clearly wanted to haul tail the other direction, and only slightly calmed down when it became clear Gokudera Hayato wanted to 'prove' himself a better Decimo candidate.

Reborn finally got to shoot the boy with Dying Will Bullets...only to stare in shock and inwardly swear that he was going to _murder_ Iemitsu in the most brutal fashion he could come up with.

His student was a _girl._ There was no mistaking the still-developing bust line that was thankfully hidden by a sports bra, and a pair of odd shorts that could have passed for boxers.

Once Tsuna, which he was _highly_ doubting was her name in the first place realized her state of undress, she let out a panicked shriek.

What she did next made the decision to brutally kill Iemitsu a priority... because if that wasn't Sky Haze he'd eat his fedora.

"What just happened?" asked Hayato baffled. One minute the Tenth was there, the next _she_ shrieked and disappeared in the span of a second.

"It's called Sky Haze. A flame technique available to Skies that allows them to perfectly harmonize with their environment to the point they become relatively invisible to the naked eye unless you have thermal imaging. It takes a great deal of control to pull it off, however," explained Reborn.

Which begged the question how the hell she knew how to do that at the drop of a hat and with the seal supposedly intact.

* * *

 _Tsukiyo POV_

She was shivering under Hibari's desk. Thanks to Sky Haze, she had managed to reach his office without anyone seeing her half dressed.

Kyouya came in like a storm cloud, took one look at her and without saying a word wrapped his jacket around her.

"What happened?" he demanded, once her shivers started to calm down.

"Reborn hit me with some weird bullet... I woke up in a secluded area with that new transfer with nothing but my underclothes on and him staring at me in shock. I came here immediately."

Kyouya's face was furious.

"What."

"I really don't want to go home. I have no idea if Reborn is going to hit me with one of those bullets again," said Tsukiyo shivering.

Kyouya immediately called Chrome in. Fortunately his Sky knew where he lived, and Chrome was good enough at her illusions to hide the fact they had left school.

Predictably, his Sky had nightmares the second she tried to sleep. He relented and allowed her to use him as a human teddy bear considering out of all her current Guardians he was the strongest and most territorial.

* * *

Reborn was not expecting Fon to call him directly. Or for the rather irate Storm to read him the riot act for the stunt he pulled with the potential Storm Guardian.

She hadn't _rejected_ Hayato outright, but it was a shock finding out his new student had an actual fear of being assaulted by her classmates to the point she created an entirely new identity that made everyone believe she was a boy including her own mother, and had made it a point to never, ever go anywhere that wasn't patrolled by the Disciplinary committee to the point the worst she endured was a few idiots attempting to trip or knock her books out of her hands.

Most of which had stopped the moment people found out Hibari liked her enough to make her secretary, though no one was aware that "Tsuna" was in fact a girl.

That he had apparently acted out one of her greatest fears without realizing it did not sit well with him. Especially considering she had a valid reason for having it in the first place.

So he reluctantly decided to wait for Fon to arrive before _properly_ introducing a potential Storm to his new student.

Assignment or not, he refused on principle to exacerbate _that_ sort of fear into a full blown phobia.

Fon arrived in very short order and he was not pleased with Reborn's stunt in the least.

"What can you tell me about Tsuna?"

"Her name is actually Tsukiyo," said Fon.

"Care to explain why she has that particular fear?"

"To sum up a long story, she was twelve and she looked up what the word 'whore' meant and accidentally clicked the wrong links. As such she was made very, very aware of how quickly things could turn for the worse if she allowed her gender to be known considering the fact the adults have a general apathy towards her and her own mother is oblivious to anything that doesn't involve Iemitsu."

Reborn frowned.

"And before you ask, I confirmed Nana's general lack of interest towards her children. She might look like an 'acceptable' mother on the outside, but her behavior took a complete one-eighty the second Iemitsu showed up. She paid exclusive attention to his words and only cared for her children as an after thought."

Reborn continued to make murdering Iemitsu a higher priority. At this rate he was going to hunt down the idiot and shoot him, assignment be _damned_.

Hayato quietly followed them to a neutral location, and was properly introduced to his potential Sky.

Tsukiyo had calmed down quite a bit, and it didn't hurt that Fon let her use him as a sort of 'teddy bear' while Reborn patiently explained why he had brought Hayato in the first place.

"Someone mind giving me a proper profile, since clearly everything I have on _Tsukiyo_ here is clearly full of crap?" he asked patiently.

Fon snorted.

"Iemitsu hasn't paid real attention to his family since the day he put his job first, and we made very sure he had limited to no contact the last time he visited. As for a proper file I can probably make something close to the truth up...provided you don't use Dying Will bullets on her again. We're still trying to get her used to the idea of wearing female clothing instead of hiding behind the boy's uniform."

And that was only possible because of Chrome and Kagome, who were doing wonders for her self confidence as a female.

Reborn hummed.

"Just out of curiosity is there a line yet for brutally murdering Iemitsu?" he asked.

"Not yet," said Fon amused. Reborn's eyes gleamed hearing that.

Tsukiyo sat down with Hayato and carefully broached the topic of him becoming her new Storm. Fon was good, don't get her wrong, but having an Arcobaleno openly acting as her Storm put a massive target on her back. Besides, he really reminded her of a younger, grumpier G and that was enough to at least hear him out.

The second she got even a fraction of his history, she decided that even if he didn't become her Storm Guardian she wasn't going to let him suffer being an independent any longer.

"Reborn, I have a hypothetical question. Does the Right Hand _have_ to be one of the official Guardians or can it be someone who's loyal, but not harmonized?" asked Tsukiyo seriously.

Reborn blinked.

"It would be unusual, but not unheard of," he conceded. "But it's highly recommended that the Right and Left hand be one of the Guardians if the Don or Donna is a Sky. Mostly so no one questions their loyalty without a damn good reason."

Hayato perked up hearing that, already guessing where this was going.

"Right hands are basically like personal assistants, but with a bit more authority and power, correct?"

"More or less," agreed Reborn.

"Well I'm not sure I approve of the current Vongola, but I could use a decent Right Hand. Even if you don't become my Storm, that doesn't mean I won't take you in," said Tsukiyo.

Seeing the shocked and hopeful look on his face made her heart break. Despite the scare he had given her two days prior, she pulled him into a hug.

He latched onto her without hesitation, and she could feel some of the tension release from his body knowing that she'd accept him as one of her own even if he didn't become her Storm.

"Now, where _exactly_ are you staying? I know for a fact that renting apartments doesn't come cheap, especially since your weapon of choice is something that is very hard to get legally," asked Tsukiyo seriously.

"Little moon, what are you planning?" asked Fon.

"Chrome shares my room since she rather enjoys having another girl to talk to, and Tatsuya has his own room. And since Reborn insists on sleeping on that ridiculous hammock in my room, that means we might be able to clean out the attic or something and get an extra futon for Hayato to use. It's not like we have that much stuff up there anyway, and we can always move things to the basement," said Tsukiyo sensibly.

Reborn looked at her with open approval. A good boss took care of their subordinates, after all.

"Ahahaha... if that doesn't work out we do have a spare room at my place," offered Takeshi.

"You're just hoping to play out some of the scenes in the books I gave you for your birthday," snorted Tsukiyo. That Takeshi didn't even _try_ to claim otherwise said volumes about his preferences.

"What books?" asked Reborn.

"Clearly you never bothered to look at my collection on the shelf," said Tsukiyo.

"I thought those were Chrome's."

Chrome shook her head.

"They were there long before she saved me. She originally bought them to poke fun at Ieyasu's secret relationship with his boyfriend, but got hooked on them instead."

"Who is Ieyasu?" asked Reborn frowning.

Fon shared a look with Tsukiyo. He was desperately trying not to laugh at the thought of how many headaches it would cause Reborn to learn that his new student was already getting lessons from the man who created the very famiglia he was teaching her to lead.

"Ieyasu is an older brother type figure who has a Sky Flame. He was the one to discover her seal and remove it, and has been teaching her the finer arts of how to use it. So far she has already harmonized with Kyouya and once Takeshi goes active there's a high probability he will become her Rain and Left Hand. Ieyasu's Cloud is the one who gave Kyouya a small list of tips on how to properly channel his Flames, considering how rare that one is," said Fon honestly...hiding the fact that "Ieyasu" was really Giotto and that she was able to visit him through a well.

Reborn frowned at that. He had no reports of an "Ieyasu" within the area.

"Is he trustworthy?"

Fon's smile hid the fact he was laughing his ass off inside.

"Reborn, if _anyone_ has a reason to help Tsukiyo return the Vongola to what it should have been and not what it is now, it's him. Outside of that he has no reason to hate the Vongola."

He really, really hoped he was there the day Giotto found a way to come through the well and visit Tsukiyo, instead of the other way around. Since the ability was _clearly_ genetic it was only a matter of time before he figured out how.

He was sure Reborn's reaction would be both hilarious and glorious to see. Ah, well. Even if he did miss it he was certain Tsukiyo would catch it. She was very good at photography and before Reborn showed up was seriously considering that as a career.

Odds were she'd keep it as a hobby or something.

On an unrelated note, Hayato opted to move in to TakeSushi for reasons he wasn't quite willing to go into. Tsuyoshi just asked that he kept anything explosive or chemical far, far away from the food and restaurant.

Considering his history with poisonous cooking, that was a request he could easily agree to.

Even if he did blush as red as a tomato when Tsukiyo busted him looking at Takeshi's ass, and discreetly slipped him one of her 'collection'. Along with a note.

 _'Who you date or what you do on your off time is your own business so long as it doesn't affect your job. That being said, this should give you an idea of Takeshi's preferences. Have fun!'_

At least he knew she had nothing against him dating her Rain. Even if he wasn't quite ready to potentially start a relationship. He was still getting used to the idea that he might have found someone who actually gave a damn about him.


	10. Chapter 10

Tsukiyo had only come into the past to get some advice from G and Asari on how to deal with the bickering between Hayato and Takeshi. Well, mostly one-sided bickering but it still worried her.

She was not expecting to be waylaid by Sesshomaru of all people concerning his adopted pup Rin.

"Wait, so Rin's been feeling stomach aches with regularity once a month and you keep smelling blood but have no idea why?" said Tsukiyo.

"If she were a youkai I would suspect she is going into heat, but it's been happening far too regularly."

"How old is she again?"

"Almost twelve."

"Poor girl. Sounds like she's an early bloomer then," said Tsukiyo with sympathy. "If you don't mind, I'll bring Kagome and Sango into this. We'll explain what's going on for her and give you an idea of what to expect."

Sesshomaru made a face. He had hoped to avoid his little brother if possible.

"I'll make it clear that this is a 'girl only thing', so the most they might do is bring Shippo with them."

She was in luck... Kagome was in the present for her high school exams and was able to answer the phone.

" _So Rin's having her period? Why did he come to you?"_

"Do you really see someone like Sesshomaru admitting he needs help easily? Besides, I think he mostly avoids you because it'll get back to his brother."

" _Yeah, that makes sense. So what do you want to do?"_

"When do your exams end? I'm thinking we bring Sango into this so she can show Rin what sort of herbs to use to help cramps and how they dealt with it in that time, and make it a girl's day. The poor girl doesn't really have any big sister types to talk to, being with Sesshomaru all the time and we're the only ones that won't try to remove her because she's with a demon. Or worse, hurt her to get to him."

Kagome had to admit, Tsukiyo had a surprising depth of understanding when it came to people and society. She would never have put _nearly_ as much thought in how to bridge the gap between others, let alone find ways for them to bond and have a semi-friendly relationship.

She would have likely just let the situation between their grandfather and the locals stand as it was and let him figure it out.

" _So girl's day. Anything specific I should bring?"_

"Nothing too modern. Maybe some ribbons or something we could do with Rin's hair, and chocolate. A _lot_ of chocolate and other goodies. I'll be bringing flowers to explain to her what puberty is and I'll let Sesshomaru know what to look for in regards to herbal remedies," said Tsukiyo promptly.

" _Gotcha. Wait, how are you going to use flowers to explain..."_

"It's easier if you hear it, rather than explain over the phone. Good luck with your exams."

" _I'm going to need it,"_ said Kagome.

* * *

A few days later they were in the past again, and Sesshomaru gladly dumped Rin on Tsukiyo for the day. It didn't help that it was one of the times Rin was having stomach aches and was generally a bit crabby.

Tsukiyo bent down to look Rin in the eye.

"So I bet you're wondering why you have stomach cramps, among other things, once a month."

Rin nodded.

"It's because your body is preparing you for becoming an adult. In other words you're starting to blossom into a big girl who can have kids."

Rin's eyes were wide.

Tsukiyo sat down and Rin did so eagerly, paying close attention. Kagome and Sango were there as well, and Rin was very relieved at the herbs Sango had brought with her... she didn't like the cramping very much.

"Okay, imagine a girl's body is like a flower," said Tsukiyo, holding out a flower that hadn't yet bloomed. "This is what your body was like before the cramping started. As girls get older this flower slowly starts to blossom out into something really pretty."

She brought out a second flower, starting to bloom outwards with multiple petals.

"Right now you're at this stage, when your body is just beginning to move from childhood into a proper adult. Following me so far?"

Rin nodded.

Tsukiyo pulled out a third flower.

"Kagome, Sango and I are at this stage, where we're mature enough that the bloom has properly blossomed out. Now as girls get older, this bloom starts to loose petals...which is what the bleeding is about. Every time you bleed the flower loses another petal, until they're all gone."

"What happens when the petals are all gone?" asked Rin.

"It means you're not able to have children anymore. The petals inside you are really, really small. So small you can't properly see them and there's a lot of them. However they can't make more of them, so there's a limited number of them inside you," said Tsukiyo.

"...This explanation is making far more sense than the one I got," said Kagome.

Sango nodded in agreement.

"Now when you meet a boy you properly like... and manages to survive your adopted father Sesshomaru... there will come a time when his pollen may fertilize the flower into a new one. When that happens, it means one of the petals will turn into a baby growing inside you. Understand?"

Rin was a little confused on that, but nodded. It made a lot of sense.

"Do I have to bleed every month though?" she asked.

"Price of being a girl," said Sango with sympathy.

"Now that the awkward and surprisingly informative talk is out of the way, who wants chocolate?" asked Kagome, pulling out her bag.

"What's chocolate?" asked Rin, tilting her head.

"A girl's greatest weapon against the idiocy of men and our favorite way in forgetting the fact that we bleed once a month," said Tsukiyo dryly. One bite and Rin was hooked.

Sesshomaru was relieved to have the bleeding explained, even if he crinkled his nose when he found out what was going on. He was just glad he didn't have to be the one to give the talk to his adopted daughter.

And that Sango gave him examples of what herbs to look for to make it a bit easier on Rin.

* * *

 _In the present..._

"Where were you all day yesterday?" asked Reborn suspiciously.

"Giving a twelve-year-old the talk about what puberty was and how it worked. Then spent the rest of it having a girl's day with my cousin and her friend," said Tsukiyo with a groan. "At least _my_ explanation didn't leave everyone mortified beyond belief. Or sounds even remotely clinical."

Reborn raised his eyebrows.

"Why would you need to give that talk to twelve-year-old? Couldn't her parents handle it?"

"Her adopted father has no idea how to handle girls, and her parents were killed. He only came to me because my cousin is with his younger brother, and he didn't want him to know he was having trouble with something so minor. Fortunately he's friends with Ieyasu-nii and knew I could at least give her a general idea about what's going on."

Reborn was still confused as to why Tsukiyo was asked something like that from an almost complete stranger, but dropped it.

"So how did you explain puberty to her then?"

"Told her to think of her body like a flower that's just starting to blossom into a fully blooming one. And that the 'eggs' in her body were the petals on the flower. The bleeding is mostly just her body getting rid of a petal that's starting to drop," said Tsukiyo.

Reborn hummed. It was a pretty good analogy, actually.

"How did you explain it to her father then?"

"Told him she was a pup starting to go into first heat, and that it was going to be a monthly thing. He's super protective of her and he got the gist when I mentioned that."

Which was an understatement.

Sesshomaru only had to hear that the 'bleeding' was basically like a dog's heat, except it was a monthly thing and that human females were less likely to get pregnant during bleeding times than they were off it.

She merely confirmed Sesshomaru's overprotective nature when it came to Rin when she commented about how now that Rin was starting to transition into a proper woman, that she would be able to bear children.

And if there is a glint in his eyes when she suggests leaving Rin with Knuckle whenever he's in the area to learn how to fight, in order to deal with perverts and idiots trying to make her bear children before she's ready, they both say nothing.

(Though that plan quickly changed the second they learn Rin is a budding sharpshooter. G has never had such an enthusiastic student. Sesshomaru is just darkly pleased when Rin picks up the habit of aiming rather...low...in regards to men, even as he winces in male sympathy for anyone stupid enough to get hit.)

* * *

Hearing Hayato whine in the back of his throat at the mere thought of displeasing Tsukiyo, she doesn't really _think_ about her method of calming him down and cheering him up.

Carding her hand through his hair, Hayato blinks for a few moments, before he practically _melts_ under the attention. He really reminded her of a puppy that had been kicked far too often and was slow to trust because of it.

Then he whines when Takeshi gets into it, grinning wickedly.

He tries to fight it off, but Tsukiyo is quick to hug him.

"I swear I've seen this shade of silver before. You said your mom was Japanese, right?"

"At least half, from what I was told," said Hayato, leaning into her side without thinking.

He really was like a puppy seeking affection and she knew just how to stroke his head just right to make him melt.

Actually now that she thought about it, Hayato reminded her a lot of Inuyasha. He even had the same... oh. That's where she saw this particular shade of silver before.

Come to think of it, didn't Inuyasha once make a complaint about certain herbs making him sneeze when they were crushed?

Deciding to test her suspicions, she waited until they were doing homework to discreetly take out a few springs of lavender and crushing the petals between her fingers.

The reaction was almost instantaneous. Hayato started sneezing like crazy.

She quickly hid the lavender and washed her hands.

"You alright Hayato?"

"I _hate_ lavender," he said with a grimace. "Just being near that stuff makes me sneeze and I can't stand perfumes at all."

It had taken Bianchi far too long to realize Hayato had an extra sensitive nose when it came to perfume, and that was long before he started foaming at the mouth around her.

"...If you have a sensitive nose then why do you smoke?" asked Tsukiyo baffled.

"It's not actually tobacco, but a combination of herbs that Shamal found helped to clear my sinuses. It's a total pain in the ass to find some of the better ones though," said Hayato. "And before you ask, none of it is pot. That stuff makes me loopy."

"And the explosives?" asked Tsukiyo.

"I hand make all of mine. Mostly so the smoke doesn't gag me."

Tsukiyo promptly looked up Hayato's mother online...and the second she saw the pianist and the secretary of one of the biggest firms in western Japan, she knew.

Talk about irony.

Now Tsukiyo wasn't a hacker. At all. However she did _know_ someone who claimed to be 'decent' at hacking, mostly because they occasionally shared the same hiding spots from bullies.

Which was why she cheerfully paid Shōichi Irie to hack into the personal server for the CEO of a company with the rather suspicious name of the Daitaisho Corporation, to send a few pictures along with certain codewords.

She felt rather vindicated when Sesshomaru (much older, mind you but still recognizable) showed up on her doorstep.

"To be honest I'm more surprised my idiot brother's girlfriend wasn't the one to find me," he commented.

"Kagome doesn't like to think things through to their logical conclusion. How did you like the photos of Rin I sent you?" asked Tsukiyo, cheerfully welcoming the older youkai into her home.

Sesshomaru almost smiled. It was clear he still missed Rin.

"I can take more photos next time I'm in that era when you visit," promised Tsukiyo.

"Why did you contact me now?"

"Does the name Lavina Gokudera mean anything to you?"

"She's my youngest daughter. Why?"

"Could you tell her that her _son_ is currently in Namimori and would probably be very happy to see her again?"

"Hayato is here?" said Sesshomaru sharply.

"He's my Storm Guardian," said Tsukiyo. "We're trying to break him of the belief that it's acceptable for him to be a suicidal idiot and he's far too submissive. Almost like a kicked puppy desperate for affection. Now Inuyasha's behavior was pretty leery of others, but even he wasn't this bad."

"Dame-Tsuki, what is the head of a multinational company doing in the living room?" asked Reborn dangerously.

"He's a friend of Ieyasu-nii's. Anyway I'm fairly certain Hayato has some of the same abilities you do, because he was sneezing like crazy when I brought out the lavender and he has the same shade of hair you did when you were younger."

"Not surprising. Most males in our family inherit the silver hair."

Reborn gave Tsukiyo a _look_.

"I think our best bet would be to prove it with a blood test, in all honesty. Or just bring your daughter here to meet him."

"No need. She's waiting at the hotel as we speak."

"I'll go get Hayato then," said Tsukiyo cheerfully.

Reborn was positively confused beyond belief and he _didn't like it_.

Fon, on the other hand? The second she told him what was going on he eagerly brought a video camera and prepared to enjoy the chaos of the girl one-upping Reborn when it came to harmless chaos.

Hayato damn near blew his mother up the second he saw her, mostly because he thought it was a trick.

Lavina, or rather Mikoto, smiled at Hayato.

"...Dame-Tsuki, what the hell is going on?"

"I accidentally figured out who Hayato's grandfather was and that his mother had faked her death on his orders?" said Tsukiyo cheekily. "Good thing Sesshomaru actually likes me, or this might never have worked out."

"And how exactly did you convince him to meet his grandson?" asked Reborn. "CEO's of companies as big as his don't just go anywhere on the drop of a hat."

"They do when you bribe them with pictures they would never be able to get otherwise. Once I confirmed it was him, I sent him a few pictures of Rin back when she was still little, and used a few key words that only someone who is friends with Ieyasu-nii would know. He used to visit Namimori a lot to talk to Ieyasu-nii," said Tsukiyo. "If it wasn't him then the pictures and code words would have meant nothing outside of a very strange prank."

To the side Hayato had been firmly convinced his mother was in fact _alive_ and had only stayed away partly because it would have been awkward as hell to explain why she had to fake her death in the first place.

Apparently there had been complications after his birth that lead to her becoming very ill and the only way to fix it was to go home. But it would have been difficult to explain her family, so her father had ordered her to fake her death when it got too serious. She would have brought Hayato, except the accident had been a spur of the moment thing that was too perfect not to use...especially since she already had a body double waiting.

If Hayato hadn't already sworn to follow Tsukiyo for life, this would have cemented his loyalty to her.

Even if his grandfather was apparently a grumpy bastard on par with that jerk Hibari.


	11. Chapter 11

"Wait... your friend Hayato is actually Sesshomaru's _grandson_?" said Kagome gaping.

"Yup. I figured out it was him because Hayato reminded me way too much of Inuyasha, only with more trust issues and the fact he's allergic to lavender. Only took a few pictures of Rin and a few words to convince Sesshomaru to visit, and it spiraled from there. You know that acid-whip thing he does, or the really bad breath that literally melts things in his canine form?"

Kagome nodded.

"Well apparently Hayato inherited more than just the silver hair and Inuyasha's tsundere attitude. He's a natural at using both, and Takeshi's really hoping Hayato picks up on how to use a sword so he has a sparring buddy. Apparently Sesshomaru hasn't found anyone worthy to wield the Tensaiga and he's hoping his grandson will learn how to use it. If not, then perhaps he might have better luck with the sword Inuyasha carries since Hayato is half-human."

"But he doesn't have dog ears!"

"Lavina found a spell to hide them. They're so cute though!" said Tsukiyo, giggling. She pulled out her ever trusty phone and Kagome had to giggle at the sight of a shorter-haired, green eyed Inuyasha with a few Italian features.

"Wow... with the ears it's _really_ easy to see the resemblance even if the eyes are wrong."

"I know, right? Think Inuyasha would be willing to show Hayato how to use those claw attacks of his?" asked Tsukiyo.

"You could always bribe him."

"He likes ramen, right? I know a good place and if anyone asks I'll tell them he's cosplaying for something later."

Kagome face palmed.

"Why didn't I think of telling everyone he's really into cosplay? It's not like the ears are that weird and with his age everyone would assume it's a fashion statement!"

Because in all honesty, even Kagome had seen weirder fashions and trends and Inuyasha could easily pass for an older teen with a penchant for period clothing and weird ears.

Inuyasha and Hayato's meeting could be summed up in one word.

Explosive.

And no, that had nothing to do with Hayato's penchant for bombs or blowing things up.

On the plus side, Inuyasha now had a very _healthy_ respect for Tsukiyo's boyfriend Kyouya, even if the girl had blushed brightly at hearing him called that.

The fact he didn't bite her to death for the 'false presumption' said a lot. The fact he took her out on a _proper_ date to make it official, more so.

She hadn't even realized they were technically dating, though of course Kyouya would jump at the chance to stake his claim on the only female in his territory able to match him blow for blow. Especially after the training sessions she had with Fon in Aikido, among other things.

And that had nothing to do with the fact that half the time after a training session, in which Kyouya would try to bite Tsukiyo to death with her viciously swearing in increasingly more creative threats every time he hit her hard enough, he would end up in her lap with her treating him like a particularly grumpy large predatory cat.

In the words of Tsukiyo, when Fon asked her what her impression of his grandson was... Kyouya had the grace of a large panther or tiger, with the territorial instincts of a lone wolf and all the stopping power of a dragon when it was pissed off.

Fon had been particularly pleased hearing that description and so had Kyouya, if the smug look in his eyes was any indication.

"By the way, Sesshomaru said that if you can graduate high school he'd be happy to hire you as his new secretary or a PA. At most you'd do his scheduling and act as a shield between him and the rest of humanity," said Tsukiyo.

"How big is his company again?"

Tsukiyo smirked, and pushed an envelope.

"He said this was the basic contract and the starting figure if you were interested. He's mostly offering because he can use you as his assistant in both worlds and he doesn't have to hide _anything_ from you. You already know what he is and don't care. That and you're sensible enough not to try and rob him like his last one."

Kagome made a rather impressive spray pattern with her tea the second she read what her starting salary would be.

"Is this for real?"

"He _is_ the head of a multinational company and he does actually like you. After all, you're not afraid to fight and you were able to keep his hot head little brother in line. Anyone who can keep up with him in a fight is worthy of respect. Besides, it's still lower than what he paid his daughter when he pulled her from Italy."

Kagome's mouth opened and shut in disbelief.

"This comes with health benefits, dental and an apartment. Why on earth didn't he offer it to you instead?!"

Sesshomaru actually liked Tsukiyo far more than he had Kagome, even in the past. So why was he offering it to the one he barely tolerated?

Tsukiyo coughed.

"Probably because I'm already the last heir of a company bigger than his and Reborn was sent to train me in how to run it?"

"You mean that weird not-baby with the lizard."

"Ciaossu. And it's a chameleon, actually. His name is Leon."

Kagome nearly shrieked, before giving Reborn a very foul look.

"I officially hate your home tutor."

"Who or what are you anyway?" asked Kagome.

The fake infant smirked.

"My name is Reborn and I'm the World's Greatest Hit Man. Also Tsukiyo's home tutor."

"...I believe you," said Kagome.

Reborn blinked.

"Just like that?"

"I can feel the curse on you from here," she deadpanned. "And your aura is far too defined to actually be that of a toddler. Besides, I've seen weirder."

Reborn shot Tsukiyo a look.

"Hey, don't look at me like that. _You're_ the one who hasn't figured out who Ieyasu-nii is yet and I know Fon has been dropping hints."

Time travel to the future might be a thing, but he refused to believe she was learning _directly_ from Giotto Vongola and the Primo's generation.

"I swear this time travel thing must be genetic or something. How else can you explain both of us able to do it?" complained Kagome.

Reborn twitched.

"At least you have someone to vent about it to. I'm just glad I have _one_ relative I actually like that's supportive. Well, outside of Tatsuya."

"Tell me about it," groaned Kagome. "At least here I have friends who just raise an eyebrow at the fact I can travel four hundred years in the past and have a half demon who can follow me through!"

"Where is Inuyasha anyway?"

"Having another argument slash training session with Hayato. I swear your puppy is trying to corrupt him with talk of aliens," said Kagome, rolling her eyes.

"With all the weird youkai you've seen, including those from the continent, are aliens _really_ that far fetched?" said Tsukiyo raising an eyebrow.

Kagome opened her mouth, before closing it, silently conceding her point.

Reborn looked very confused and more than a little irritable.

* * *

It was official. Tsukiyo _hated_ Reborn and his antics.

It had started innocently enough. She had been in class when Mochida, one of the more prominent members of the kendo club, started to harass Kyoko Sasegawa, younger sister to the boxing club captain and class idol.

Tsukiyo, as a result of several months of encouragement and learning to grow a backbone against Kyouya, decided to step in. If only out of female solidarity...and because Hana wasn't in the room to intimidate Mochida into backing down.

"Leave her alone. Can't you see she's not interested in dating you?" said Tsukiyo firmly.

"Shut up, Dame-Tsuna. No one cares about your opinion," sneered Mochida.

"What did you say, asshole?" snarled Hayato.

"I said leave her alone. Unless you want me to bring Ryohei-sempai here? I'm sure he'd be _very_ interested in your attempts to date his _little sister_ ," said Tsukiyo flatly.

Mochida flinched at that. Say what you would about Ryohei, but he was _very_ protective of his little sister.

It did not help that Hayato and Takeshi were already subtly backing Tsukiyo up, or that Chrome had a particularly dark gleam in her good eye.

"Think you're a big man now that you have a few lackeys, Dame-Tsuna? Let's see how tough you are later today! I challenge you to a fight in the gym!"

Tsukiyo glared at him.

By the time lunch came around, word had already spread about the fight.

This was the source of Tsukiyo's current ire with Reborn.

It wasn't enough she was protecting a fellow classmate from a creep. It wasn't enough that for the first time in years she was showing an actual spine among her classmates.

Oh no, Reborn had to bring those thrice-damned bullets into the equation. The bullets that had a very _annoying_ habit of burning off all her clothes save for her under garments!

When this was over she was going to make Reborn see hell, she swore it.

"Holy shit...Dame-Tsuna is a _girl_?" was the general shocked whisper in the gym.

Tsukiyo didn't bother to hide her reaction to the fact her gender had been forcibly outed.

She started swearing, in multiple languages before kicking Mochida's ass halfway cross the gym. Displaying a terrifying competence in martial arts that no one had ever seen before.

The fact Hibari gleefully charged at her and she was able to keep up without any issue at all meant that a lot of people were looking at her with a bit more respect (read: fear) now.

 _In the Disciplinary Committee office..._

"I am going to get Reborn for this. I had it handled!" fumed Tsukiyo, shivering under Hibari's jacket.

"You do remember the deal we had, don't you?" said Hibari.

Tsukiyo froze. Then an evil idea occurred to her.

"Hand me your phone a minute."

"Why?"

"Because I want to pay Fon to prank the living hell out of Reborn by stealing every coffee bean in Namimori and the neighboring towns, and then send them to Viper. If he wants his damn coffee fix he's going to have to pay them for it," said Tsukiyo darkly.

Hibari heard a knock and took the uniform Kusakabe handed him.

Tsukiyo winced when she saw what it was.

"You know our deal. I ignore the fact you wear the wrong uniform so long as your gender is never disclosed to the rest of the school," said Hibari flatly.

She pulled the jacket around her tighter. Thanks to the fact that she rarely dressed in feminine clothing, when the bullet hit she had been left with a pair of boxer shorts and a sports bra.

If not for the very obvious bumps on her chest, she might have gotten away with pretending to be a boy a bit longer.

Tsukiyo whined, but didn't argue. Hibari wasn't going to let her get away with wearing the boy's uniform for much longer.

She was going to kill Reborn for this.

* * *

 _At home..._

"You are a monumental asshole. I had that handled!" said Tsukiyo glaring at Reborn. "Do you have any idea what you've done?"

"And what does that mean, Dame-Tsuki?"

"I mean thanks to the deal I had with Kyouya, I'm forced to wear the sailor fuku from now on because _you_ decided to use a Dying Will Bullet! That was completely unnecessary!"

Reborn blinked.

"What does that mean?" he asked baffled.

"I made a deal with Kyouya years ago when he found out I was wearing the wrong uniform for safety reasons. He'd ignore the fact I wasn't wearing the 'correct' uniform so long as no one knew I was a girl. And now, thanks to you, the entire school knows!"

Tsukiyo shivered, wrapping her arms around herself.

"I really, really don't want to wear that uniform."

"How long has it been since you've actually worn feminine clothing? And I don't mean yukata or kimono," asked Reborn seriously.

Tsukiyo winced at the question.

"How long?"

"Not for years. It doesn't help Mama thinks I'm a boy and has for a long time."

"...Exactly when did you start fearing for your safety due to your gender?" asked Reborn, switching to a different tact.

"...When I was around eleven or twelve."

Right before puberty would have hit, Reborn noted. Add on top of that the sheer animosity and apathy towards her and it was no wonder she had very little comfort in wearing girl clothing.

It would seem he needed to bring in reinforcements...if only to give Tsukiyo a better female role model to encourage her. Her cousin was good, but her visits were sporadic at best. Mama had clearly lost touch with reality a long time ago, and Chrome was modeling herself after the girl who saved her.

For now though, he had to deal with this headache.

* * *

Tsukiyo looked in her closet. Closed it, then looked again.

She took deep calming breaths before a growl of pure rage came from her.

"Reborn...where are all my clothes?"

"A mafia boss does not wear clothes that barely fit, or have patch holes in them," said Reborn.

Tsukiyo hissed at him.

"Did it _ever_ occur to you that the reason I wear worn clothes is because I can't afford to buy new all the time?"

"Don't be ridiculous. Your trust vault alone would have paid for several wardrobes of brand name clothing every year. To say nothing of any hobbies you might have."

"My _what_?" said Tsukiyo baffled.

Reborn gave her an odd look.

"Your trust vault. Every confirmed Vongola heir has one, even if they're low on the line of succession. I know the Ninth would have at least kept it topped up every month with the bare minimum."

"Reborn, I don't _have_ a trust vault. I don't even have a bank account," said Tsukiyo slowly.

Reborn looked at her hard to see if she was lying. Then he went to find Mama to get to the bottom of this.

"Oh, I completely forgot about that! Tsu-kun is so clumsy with his things that I keep forgetting to give him his card. And Tatsuya always spends his allowance too quickly," said Nana with an indulgent smile.

"...Which account have you been using to pay the bills with?" asked Reborn seriously, already having a headache.

It was starting to sound more and more like Nana's absentminded nature was the source of this particular headache.

"Oh, I use the account darling set up."

Which meant she likely hadn't touched her children's vaults at all.

Reborn plastered his best fake smile on, before calmly saying...

"Mama, _Tsuna_ has outgrown the last of their clothes. I think now would be a good time to see if they can be trusted with their bank card, don't you?"

Nana seemed to think that over, before going to one of the drawers and pulling out an envelope. Inside was a card that had never been used and was already expired.

Reborn dragged Tsukiyo to the bank to get a new one and explained what happened to the manager. She walked out with a new card and a little less annoyance with her tutor.

That is, once she got over her fainting spell upon seeing exactly how much was in the account.


	12. Chapter 12

**Sorry folks! Been raining like crazy lately and there's no way I'm getting out in that!**

* * *

"So let me get this straight. Your mom knew about the account but didn't say anything because she thinks you're _absentminded?_ " said Kagome in disbelief.

"To be fair, she never really picked up on the fact I was heavily bullied. At least now I can actually buy things without having to wait for my birthday or Christmas," said Tsukiyo tiredly.

"Care to explain why your tutor told me I was to drag you shopping and that you weren't to weasel out of it until you had at least four different outfits?"

"Because he is an utter ass who destroyed all my clothes and made sure to burn everything save for the female uniform Kyouya made me wear," said Tsukiyo flatly.

"Everything?" said Kagome aghast.

"Everything," said Tsukiyo, peeved.

"Including your underwear?"

"He asked Chrome to go through it and find anything she hadn't seen in the laundry in the past couple of months. The majority of it was pretty much destroyed once she did. Though to be fair I tend to get rid of the ones that don't fit anyway."

"So what sort of budget are we looking at here?"

"Enough to fill my wardrobe four times over, with some to spare. And that's even if we hit the brand name stores."

"So basically I'm being bribed to go shopping with my cousin and her only real female friend. Both of whom have no idea how to shop for female clothes and necessities," concluded Kagome. "Good thing I've done this with my mom before."

"And it's a good thing you live in Tokyo. There's better stores here."

"More expensive though," agreed Kagome.

 _With the boys..._

"Why can't we join them?" asked Hayato.

"Do you _really_ want to get roped into carrying the bags for them? Besides, we all know you're not really interested in any of them as a girlfriend anyway," said Reborn bluntly. "Which is why we're merely staying close by while they shop, since they agreed to stay in one mall and at least text us which general area they're hitting next."

The girls were already planning to rope Hayato and Takeshi into carrying the bags to the car. Considering Kagome pulled out all the stops in regards to her cousin's wardrobe, there were already a sizable number of them, already checked over by Reborn.

In an effort to get Tsukiyo used to wearing female clothing again, there were only a handful of pants and a number of skirts. And the less said about the lingerie Kagome had coaxed Tsukiyo and Chrome into buying, the better.

Though in acknowledgment of the fact Tsukiyo was firmly a hand to hand fighter, there were a number of discreet shorts to keep boys from getting an eyeful whenever she did any high kicks.

Tsukiyo had to be dragged into the swimwear store, and even then she still balked at the idea of wearing a bikini.

She was barely comfortable running around in a sports bra and shorts. No way in hell was she wearing anything that skimpy just yet.

In the end Tsukiyo had not only filled her closet almost to the brim with clothes that fit, but she had finally gotten her hands on a really good digital camera and several SD cards to fill up with pictures. Not to mention a proper printer that she could play around with.

Chrome had gotten some new things too, though not nearly as much as what Kagome convinced her cousin to buy.

Hayato and Takeshi's backs were not thanking them when they had to haul everything to the car.

* * *

"Holy shit, is that Dame-Tsuna?" said Kimiko. She was one of many girls in "Tsuna's" class, but had never really registered the worst student in school before this.

Tsukiyo walked into the school with an unhappy look on her face that quickly disappeared when she saw Kyouya.

"Wao. I see the shopping trip did you some good after all."

"I am still spiking his coffee with something foul for destroying everything that was in there," said Tsukiyo.

Seeing a few of Kyouya's more die hard fan girls nearby, she hid a grin.

"Want to give your fans a heart attack?"

Kyouya's smirk was very telling, and he was rather pleased when his Omnivore kissed him on the lips in front of the entire school.

Dead silence filled the air, along with outright shock. Especially when he didn't try to bite her to death for the act, but rather wrapped his arms around her waist.

"Mine."

Tsukiyo beamed brightly at him, ignoring the shocked whispers of her classmates.

It took three hours before she had to deal with her annoying classmates.

"So Sawada, how long have you been hiding your gender?" asked Hana. She was somewhat neutral to Tsukiyo, partly because she didn't care, but also because the smaller girl had openly protected her best friend and put that condescending monkey in his place.

"Since I was almost twelve. Kyouya agreed to ignore the fact I was wearing the wrong uniform...until it became obvious I was a girl."

"The demon prefect actually lets you call him by his first name?" said Hana in disbelief.

"Considering he's my boyfriend, is it really that surprising? Keep in mind none of you bothered to get to know me well enough to realize I was a girl before this. Unlike _some_ people I know how to exercise discretion," said Tsukiyo bluntly. She didn't name names, but there were more than a few girls in class who would happily crow to the rooftops if they had managed to snare even _one_ of the top five hottest boys in the school as a boyfriend.

She wondered how Hayato would react to the knowledge he had the third spot, with Takeshi barely holding onto the second. Kyouya, in spite of his habits, had secured the top of that particular list a very long time ago.

Hana rather liked Sawada. And wondered how she missed such an interesting person in her class for so long.

"This coming from a girl so flat chested she had to stuff her bra this morning?" sneered one of the looser girls in class.

Tsukiyo leveled a flat look at the girl, which shut her up rather effectively.

"Until recently I've been disguising myself as a _boy_. Do you _really_ think I have any illusions about my bust size? Besides, you can blame my home tutor for thinking it was funny to set fire to all my clothes and forcing me to go on a shopping spree with my cousin to get new ones," deadpanned Tsukiyo.

"Your tutor destroyed your clothes?" said Hana aghast.

"Apparently he was very unhappy with the fact I didn't have any 'decent' outfits in my wardrobe, and decided to rectify that by insuring that I got new ones. He's a bit of a fashion snob, unfortunately," said Tsukiyo in annoyance.

Hana looked appalled that her tutor had gone that far to force the smaller girl to update her wardrobe. Then again, she _had_ seen what Sawada considered casual wear.

Perhaps it was a necessary measure to insure the girl's mother paid for clothes that actually fit?

"So how did you convince Hibari-san to date you? Did you have to spread your legs?" said the same girl from earlier. Tsukiyo didn't bother to remember her name.

"No, I just survived him when he was bored and proved I was not only fine with his habit of biting idiots like you to death, but also that I could be his new favorite sparring partner," said Tsukiyo flatly. "Or did any of you forget the fact I kicked Mochida's ass for being a misogynistic pig who thought he could force Kyoko-san into being his girlfriend?"

Hana really liked Sawada for that one. Best of all the girl had also alerted Ryohei to the issue, and he had insured Mochida stayed far away from his little sister unless she approached _him_ first.

Tsukiyo snorted.

"Besides, we currently have a competition to see who can find the best swears in different languages. So far he has me beat in Mandarin but I trounce his ass in Italian, French and Latin."

"...How many languages do you actually speak?" asked Hana surprised.

"I'm fairly fluent in Italian and French, and I can muddle through Latin and possibly English. I'm still on the bare basics of Mandarin and that's mostly because I-Pin has been helping me, while I teach her Japanese."

Tsukiyo wasn't entirely surprised when Hana managed to push her way into their little rooftop lunch, or that she dragged Kyoko with her.

"So... what's the real reason you hid your gender?"

"Ever heard of the Stephen King book called _Carrie_?" asked Tsukiyo.

"Vaguely. Some girl with a strict mother loses it and kills everyone at her high school prom, I think."

"Now replace the pig's blood with a general fear of being assaulted by your classmates," said Tsukiyo.

Hana's eyes widened, before sharpening.

"That...explains much. And I can't say it's a baseless fear considering the reputation you had and the rather disturbing amount of apathy from the teachers and adults," said Hana. "Though seriously, who in their right mind names their daughter Tsunayoshi?"

Tsukiyo coughed.

"It's actually Tsukiyo. I came up with the name Tsuna to help disguise my gender, and as you can tell it worked. Perhaps a little too well, but you can't have everything."

Hana nodded in satisfaction. That sounded like a proper name for a girl, at least.

"Um... Can I call you Kiyo-chan?" asked Kyoko.

Tsukiyo looked at her owlishly.

"The only one who ever calls me that is Ieyasu-nii...right before he tackles me into a hug."

"You have an older brother?" asked Hana. "I thought you were an only child or something."

"He's sort of my older brother. He's a somewhat distant relative, but we look a bit too much like each other, so we decided to treat each other like brother and sister. And no, I'm not an only child. I have a little brother named Tatsuya, but he generally stays with his own friends."

"How old is he?" asked Kyoko with interest.

"Roughly ten," said Tsukiyo. "And I don't mind being called Kiyo-chan, by the way."

She reached into her bag to pull out her phone.

"This is Tatsuya, and this is Ieyasu-nii," said Tsukiyo, helpfully swiping her photo app open.

"Did you take these? They're pretty good," asked Hana. She stared at 'Ieyasu', before blinking. "No wonder you call him your older brother... you two could pass for twins or something, if it wasn't for the lighter hair."

"I know, right? Shocked him too when we first met, but now we're pretty close. The girl in the miko outfit is my cousin Kagome," said Tsukiyo, eyeing the pictures Hana had up.

"I think I've seen her around town before...with that weird cosplayer," said Hana.

"Her sort of boyfriend Inuyasha. They _would_ be dating but his ex-girlfriend isn't entirely out of the picture yet. He still has a lot of hang-ups about how they broke up in the first place and she hasn't quite moved on from him."

"An awkward triangle?" asked Hana.

"Like you wouldn't believe. Inuyasha and Kagome are close, but every time Kikyo enters the picture all bets are off on who he pays the most attention to. It doesn't help some jealous creep who Kikyo had been trying to help at the time turned them against each other with a few fake lies, causing them to break up," said Tsukiyo.

It wasn't _quite_ accurate, but it was close enough to the truth.

Hana handed back the phone.

It was nice, having more female friends to talk to. And it didn't hurt that Tsukiyo could calm Ryohei down by agreeing to fight him in the boxing ring and actually knowing how to fight using only her fists.

The Sun damn near adopted her for that, especially since she didn't mind sparring with him once a week, so long as it didn't conflict with her weekly fights with Kyouya.

* * *

Tsukiyo was rather twitchy, and if one more of these idiots tried to grab her ass without warning she was going to hurt someone.

Instead she took the smarter road out...and escaped to Kyouya's office.

"Words cannot describe how much I absolutely hate teenage hormones," said Tsukiyo flatly at the look he was giving her. "If one more idiot tries to cop a feel someone is going to be going to the hospital for broken bones."

Kyouya growled at that.

"Someone has been trying to lay their hand on you?"

"They keep trying to see for themselves if I really am a girl. Never mind the looks I've been getting from the teachers because the uniform shows off the fact I do actually have curves. It's a good thing I'm rather secure in my looks, otherwise I would have made several girls cry from the fact they keep insinuating that I stuff my bra to make my chest look bigger," said Tsukiyo with annoyance.

It was less that she stuffed it and more that she finally had proper _support_ for her chest. It didn't give her as many back-aches now.

Kyouya was clearly pissed at hearing that.

"This could have been mostly avoided if you didn't insist I wear the correct uniform," she reminded him. "The whole incident would have been forgotten about in a week, if not two."

Kyouya wrapped his arms around her possessively and she happily leaned into him.

"You've been hiding long enough," he said flatly. "Besides, you look better in a skirt."

That made her blush a bit.

"Certainly gave Ieyasu-nii and the others a near heart attack, seeing me in one. I had to show them pictures of the other outfits before they believed me when I said this skirt length was fairly moderate in comparison," snickered Tsukiyo.

Ieyasu almost hadn't _recognized_ her when she showed up, if not for the feel of her flames.

Needless to say the others were very shocked at the transformation and had spent the entire visit rather uncomfortable at the fact her gender was firmly being reinforced.

Didn't mean she felt even the least bit comfortable wearing a skirt though. Kyouya had given her a somewhat longer than standard one, and she still felt exposed because she was so used to pants.

Reborn had made it clear she wasn't allowed to wear pants for a _least_ a month and had hidden all the new ones she bought. He allowed her to wear the shorts, mostly because of her fighting style, but that was it.

It took her several moments to realize Kyouya had his hand on her ass, before the blush firmly rooted itself on her face. Unlike the other idiots who tried it, she could feel the difference in the way he was holding her.

Kyouya wasn't trying to wander to places she didn't like. He was being a possessive bastard at the moment, especially after she mentioned several boys already trying to cop a feel.

Somehow she had the feeling several of the worst offenders were going to be making visits to the hospital soon.

Rather than try to fight him off, she nuzzled into his neck, to his satisfaction.

Like hell was he going to let the herbivores harass his girlfriend, and potentially set off her phobia.


End file.
